This book seeks to present a comprehensive overview of the Palestine issue, its historical background, as well as its modern and contemporary developments. The book, in a documented, methodical, and concise style, and in plain language, delves into the history of Palestine from its early history throughout the Islamic era, and the background of the emergence of the Zionist movement, as well as the British occupation of Palestine and the founding of Israel. The book analyzes the various phases of the Palestine issue and its developments, shedding light on the struggle of the Palestinian people, their uprisings and revolutions, and the role of the Palestine Liberation Organization and its factions, as well as the role of the Palestinian Islamic movements. The book places particular emphasis on the first two decades of the twenty-first century, so that the reader would be able to obtain a clear picture about many of the issues related to the contemporary aspects of the Palestinian question. The revised and updated edition of the book covers the period up to the year 2021, and contains a large collection of pictures and maps to illustrate its points. The book is an important source for readers seeking to acquaint themselves with the Palestine issue, and to become informed of the pertinent facts in a balanced manner. It can also serve as an introduction to further studies of the Palestine issue.

This 224 page book presents a general overview of the Palestinian issue, by tracing its historical junctures and its current developments. For the reader, this will facilitate his comprehension of its overall picture, the intertwined factors connected to it, at any stage and in a logical sequence, up to the present stage. This book is of special importance to the group of readers who wish to get a general idea of the Palestinian issue, or those who do not find time for detailed specialized studies. The book is written in a smooth English language, and is full of information updated till 2013; all the while retaining a scientific, academic and documented wording, far from emotional structural discourse. In its first chapter, the book deals with the background of the Palestinian issue until 1918. It reviews Palestine’s history through the ages, its geography, its Islamic standing, and the Jews’ religious and historical claims in Palestine, up to the emergence of the Palestinian issue in modern history, in addition to its political developments up to the end of World War I in 1918. The second chapter highlights the period of the British occupation of Palestine during 1918–1948. It discusses the development of the Zionist project, the emergence of the Palestinian National Movement and the 1936 Palestinian Revolt, as well as the political events that followed, up to the 1948 war and its repercussions. The third chapter reviews the issue’s developments during the period 1948–1967, focusing on the development of the Palestinian national movement, the birth of Fatah movement, the establishment of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), and the war of June 1967 and its repercussions. As for the fourth chapter, it addresses the period 1967–1987 up to the outbreak of the first Intifadah in 1987, shedding light on the emergence of the Palestinian national identity, the development of the Palestinian armed struggle, the Arab countries’ role in the Palestinian issue, and the emergence of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). The fifth chapter deals with the period starting with the outbreak of the 1987 Intifadah until the failure of the Camp David negotiations in 2000, going through the inception of Hamas, the transition of the PLO from armed struggle to peaceful settlement, the formation of the Palestinian National Authority, and the developments that Israel had witnessed during the same period. The last chapter in the book reviews the developments that occurred following the outbreak of al-Aqsa Intifadah in September 2000 and until 2013. It is divided into subjects that include the Palestinian resistance, the Palestinian internal situation, the path of the peaceful negotiations, Jerusalem and the status quo, the Separation Wall, and the Israeli internal situation. This book is an important source for readers seeking to acquaint themselves with the Palestinian issue, and to become informed of the pertinent facts in a balanced manner. It can also serve as an introduction to further studies of the Palestinian issue.

The Road to Jerusalem

Al-Zaytouna Centre is pleased to present to its readers the Palestine Strategic Report (PSR) 2020–2021, the 12th PSR to be published. With an academic methodology and comprehensive objective approach, the report details the developments concerning the Palestine issue and provides the latest information and data available at the endof 2021, along with analyses and forecasts. This report is the result of collaborative work of 15 experts and researchers. In eight chapters, it addresses the internal Palestinian scene; Palestinian demographic and economic indicators; the situation in Jerusalem and the holy sites; the specifics of Israeli aggression, Palestinian resistance and the peace process; the internal situation in Israel, politically, economically and militarily; and Palestine’s Arab, Islamic, and international relations. The PSR now occupies a prominent position as an indispensable reference, integral to Palestine studies and research. Al-Zaytouna Centre hopes the PSR will continue to make valuable contributions in this field.

A landmark history of one hundred years of war waged against the Palestinians from the foremost US historian of the Middle East, told through pivotal events and family history In 1899, Yusuf Diya al-Khalidi, mayor of Jerusalem, alarmed by the Zionist call to create a Jewish national home in Palestine, wrote a letter aimed at Theodore Herzl: the country had an indigenous people who would not easily accept their own displacement. He warned of the perils ahead, ending his note, “in the name of God, let Palestine be left alone.” Thus Rashid Khalidi, al-Khalidi’s great-great-nephew, begins this sweeping history, the first general account of the conflict told from an explicitly Palestinian perspective. Drawing on a wealth of untapped archival materials and the reports of generations of family members—mayors, judges, scholars, diplomats, and journalists—The Hundred Years' War on Palestine upends accepted interpretations of the conflict, which tend, at best, to describe a tragic clash between two peoples with claims to the same territory. Instead, Khalidi traces a hundred years of colonial war on the Palestinians, waged first by the Zionist movement and then Israel, but backed by Britain and the United States, the great powers of the age. He highlights the key episodes in this colonial campaign, from the 1917 Balfour Declaration to the destruction of Palestine in 1948, from Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon to the endless and futile peace process. Original, authoritative, and important, The Hundred Years' War on Palestine is not a chronicle of victimization, nor does it whitewash the mistakes of Palestinian leaders or deny the emergence of national movements on both sides. In reevaluating the forces arrayed against the Palestinians, it offers an illuminating new view of a conflict that continues to this day.

This book has two editions, one with pictures and illustrations, and the other without them. The first edition of this book was published in 2001. It has widely spread, hundreds of thousands of Arabic copies were printed, and was translated into thirteen different languages. This book provides the reader with a brief, comprehensive, and easy introduction to the Palestine issue. It presents information, facts, fundamentals and concepts that are indispensable when dealing with this issue, in addition to providing an extensive and concise database that is considered the basis for an Islamic understanding of the Palestine issue. This book provides readers with basic information based on scientific sources about the land of Palestine and its people, and presents the most prominent milestones of its ancient and contemporary history. It explains the emergence of the Zionist movement and its objectives, the British occupation of Palestine, the establishment of Israel, the displacement of the Palestinian people and the Judaization of the land, the man and the holy sites. It also draws attention to Israel’s strength and its weaknesses. The book speaks about the Palestinian resistance and the Palestinian people’s uprisings since the British occupation until now, and the establishment of the Palestine Liberation Organization and its shift towards the peace process. The author discusses the political jostling between the settlement and resistance trends, and sheds light on the role of the Christians of Palestine, in addition to explaining the position on Jews and the humanitarian dimension of the Palestine issue. The late Prof. Dr. Muhammad ‘Amara, wrote the introduction of the first edition of this book, in which he says, “This booklet succeeded in extracting the basic facts of this central issue, and presenting them in the frame of the exceptional political, intellectual and civilizational concepts… Its pages have become the “Text” that must be memorized and understood by every Arab and every Muslim, rather by every honest human being who seeks truth, justice and fairness… It can be considered the Skeleton that carries all the details of this raging conflict on the land of Palestine.” ‘Amara considered the book the Record of the prime cause of Muslims.