A revelatory short history of the specific bias exercised against Palestinians in the West, a form of racism that is as politically potent as it is profoundly poisonous to the wider culture; written by two leading scholars of Palestine – one an endowed chair of history at UC Berkeley, the other a professor of literature and post-colonial studies at UCLA.
ANTI-PALESTINIANISM
by Ussama & Saree Makdisi
W.W. Norton, February 2027
(via Frances Goldin Literary)
For decades, the voices of Palestinians and those who advocate for Palestinian rights have been stifled—if not outright silenced—in the United States, according to scholars Ussama Makdisi and Saree Makdisi. More recently, activists have been arrested by federal agents merely for writing op-eds, while pro-Palestinian speech in universities as well as media and civic institutions has faced an unprecedented crackdown. How are we to understand this intolerance in the supposed land of the free?
In ANTI-PALESTINIANISM, the Makdisis, two of the most prominent Palestinian American scholars in the United States, argue that the phenomenon is not reducible to Islamophobia or to general anti-Arab animus. Rather, they show that anti-Palestinianism constitutes a distinct form of bias rooted in the specific historical and political circumstances of Palestine and Israel – it is an attempt to deny the Palestinian story altogether through an unprecedented system of assumptions, norms, rules, and even laws. Drawing on a vast array of historical examples, the Makdisis have produced an essential work that gives language and clarity to the limits of American inclusion.
“If Americans are like fish, anti-Palestinianism is like water—so ubiquitous it remains largely invisible. Naming it, so we recognize how often our public debates assume that Palestinian lives matter less than Jewish ones, is crucial work. This is a genuinely important book.” – Peter Beinart, author of Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza
“How is it possible for the Palestinians to be openly dispossessed, subjugated, starved and massacred while the world’s liberal democracies watch on and do almost nothing to save them? Saree and Ussama Makdisi provide a well-argued and brilliantly nuanced answer to that question in this brave, timely and hugely important book. Anti-Palestinianism is essential reading to understand the biggest moral issue of our time.” – William Dalrymple, author of The Golden Road
“Anti-Palestinianism will shock and inspire you. It is a foundational work, and should be read in every house, taught in every classroom.” – Fady Joudah, author of Exhibit G
Ussama Makdisi is the inaugural May Ziadeh Chair in Palestinian and Arab Studies, Professor of History, and Chancellor’s Professor at the University of California Berkeley. His latest book, Age of Coexistence (University of California Press, 2019), was praised by Peter Beinart and Rashid Khalidi, among others. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, The Houston Chronicle, The Yale Review, Jewish Currents, and Aeon, as well as on various Arabic media, and he has appeared on numerous television and radio shows including Al Jazeera, TRT International, and NPR’s Morning Edition.
Saree Makdisi is the Chair of the English Department at UCLA and a scholar of Palestine, colonial history, and its afterlives. He is the author of Palestine Inside Out (Norton, 2008), which counted Alice Walker, Desmond Tutu, and Howard Zinn among its many supporters, and Tolerance is a Wasteland (UCP, 2022), which Judith Butler called “a beacon of light.” He wrote the introduction for the recent reissue of Edward Said’s The Question of Palestine, which he presented at Southbank Center in a much-watched speech last fall. He writes frequently for the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, The Guardian, n+1, and the London Review of Books. His essay “No Human Being Can Exist” was n+1’s most-read piece of 2023.
With their brother Karim Makdisi, Saree and Ussama are also hosts of the popular podcast Makdisi Street.
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