John Quigley’s The Case for Palestine is a comprehensive look at the question of Palestine from the beginning of the problem in the late 1800s to the present day. The history is presented within an international law framework. From Quigley’s point of view, international law falls clearly on the side of the Palestinians and sharply indicts the Zionist movement as well as Israel’s policies and actions. I will be summarizing the book over the course of a few posts in the next couple of weeks, hopefully distilling the book into its most salient points. I am more interested here in giving an overview of the book and to reflect a bit on what I got out of it.

This is a great introductory book to the conflict. If you or anyone you know would like to get a fairly good picture of the conflict including all the relevant history this book will do the trick. The whole of the history, as well the legal analysis associated with the events, is presented concisely and in a manner that is easy to digest for us who don’t have mad international law skillz. The book is organized well with sections covering the different periods of the conflict, each section containing chapters which discuss the important issues for that period. The chapters are tight and chock full of useful information, making the book as a whole a great reference for the different events and issues.

What surprised me more than anything in reading this book was how I found myself responding to it. John Quigley did not intended to be a great narrator here, and while his writing is engaging as far as this genre goes, he makes no attempts at embellishment or ornamentation of any kinds. All he does is provide us with the facts in the most efficient and clear way. But as I read this book, what emerged is this incredibly vivid and moving portrait of the Palestinian catastrophe. While Quigley recited the facts in a most academic way, I was reacting quite emotionally.

I felt sadness at the history that the Palestinian people have had to endure, including massacres, oppression, destitution, discrimination and occupation. I felt contempt towards a world that was satisfied issuing condemnation after condemnation against Israeli atrocities but was never willing to intervene. I felt anger at countries that were complicit in creating this nightmare, how trivial political and economic benefits seemed to trump averting or ending the suffering of a whole people. But the thing that really broke my heart is how truly inhuman people can be. There were absolutely no questions throughout this ugly history that the Zionist dream was built on a Palestinian nightmare. This fact continues to this day and the world is reminded of it with every new settlement and every murdered Palestinian. To bring such cruelty upon a whole people simply to fulfill a colonial fantasy is the pinnacle of barbarism.

I’m not sure if my reaction to this book is due to the fact that this is such a personal issue. It may be that my emotions were moved only because of the hundreds of stories of expulsion, loss and struggle that have left an indelible mark in my memory. Still, I do hold out hope that the thread of humanity that binds all people is greater than our differences; that this book and others like it would move all those that read it and that they will see that this cannot go on and find common cause with the Palestinian people.

-Tineen