The Biggest Prison on Earth: A History of the Occupied Territories by Ilan Pappé

The Biggest Prison on Earth: A History of the Occupied Territories Reviews

• 
  Mohammed omran

  عربيه يا ارض فلسطين
  قدس و مهد و عهد و دين
  انجيل قرأن و جرس و اذان
  و غضب ينطق يوم حطين
  بيت الرب كرامه شعب
  تفديك ارواحنا يا بلادى
  اسمك دايم يا فلسطين
  احلى بلاد الدنيا بلادى
  يا بلادى يا بلادى
  فيها تشوف فرحه اولادى
  يا بلادى يا بلادى
  و نخيلها العالى اوتادى
  هى الاب و هى الام
  و هى القوه حرب و سلم
  اسمك دايم يا فلسطين
  
  
  أكبر سجن على الأرض
  بيروقراطية الشر
  شروط الآيديولحية الصهيونية المسبقة
  
  تطهير عرقي وإبادة جماعية تدريجية
  استعمار استيطاني ومستوطنين وحوش
  
  
  كيف يمكن إنتاج معرفة حقيقية عن واقع الاستعمار في فلسطين في ظل وجود مستعمر يحتكر سردية التاريخ ليشوه تاريخ شعب ويستبدله بتاريخ آخر؟ ربما يكون هذا الكتاب مساهمة في فضح الممارسات اليومية، القديمة الجديدة، والمستمرة لطمس الواقع التاريخي وتدمير الذاكرة والهوية الفلسطينية الهادفة في مجملها للتطهير العرقي والإبادة الجماعية لشعب بأكمله. إيلان بابيه يقدم كتاباً مميزاً تعيد السردية الحقيقية إلى مكانها وزمانها الأصليين والحقيقيين، وذلك من خلال كشف وثائق جديدة ودحض السردية الصهيونية. فحينما تتحدث السلطة، وأقصد هنا حينما يتحدث الاستعمار، فهو يتحدث عن نفسه في النهاية وعن صورته، التي لطالما حاول المستعمر الصهيوني سترها تحت غطاء القانون والعدالة والدفاع عن النفس، وهم بعيدين كل البعد عن ذلك.
• 
  Ali AbdulKarim

  An important book detailing the policies used to control the West Bank and Gaza post-1967 and the historical background behind those policies.
  
  Unfortunately Ilan Pappe delved very deep into meeting minutes and details on policy but could not deliver coherent points like he did in his previous (excellent) books such as “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine” and “10 Myths about Israel”.
  
  The book does get repetitive at some point and I struggle to see the relevance of some events mentioned in the book, and not because they are irrelevant but because Ilan Pappe did not properly deliver his thesis on the said historical event.
  
  Nevertheless, I’d recommend reading it for anyone interested in Israeli internal policy and their rationalizations for more land grabbing and mass punishment of the Palestinian people.
• 
  Ailith Twinning

  I mean, I really don't see the point anymore with this sort of thing -- a small group of liberals will do the whole beautiful tears thing over this sort of thing, fascists will dismiss it with the whole "It didn't/isn't happening and, if it did, it'd be a good thing." thing they do, reasonable people will feel sad and powerless, and crazy people will find it just a little harder not to kill themselves, or worse.
  
  I'm tired.
• 
  Ján Kapusňak

  Textbook of Palestinian propaganda
• 
  Bill

  The author has thoroughly researched his material to present his case; I found it to be objective and for the most part impartial. He didn't end with some hopeful solution. And having read the book I see why. It seems to me that there may now be no solution that will be satisfactory to the Israelis & the Palestinians. I do recommend the book to all who care about peace, on both sides. It does show a side too often overlooked.
• 
  Salahuddin Hourani

  وجدت الكتاب في احدى مكتبات جرير في الرياض ، ورفضوا بيعه لي بحجة ان الكتاب منع حديثا من التداول (في النصف الثاني من ٢٠٢١)
  
  بعد عدة اسابيع وجدت الكتاب في معرض الرياض الدولي الكتاب ، لا غفر الله لمن منعه من التداول وسحبه من رفوف المكتبات
• 
  Noel نوال Ali

  As always, this is an extremely important book. Ilan Pappé is one of my favorite historians and authors and his works are always full of heaping wealths of knowledge and information. As an Israeli scholar he uses his access to important historical documents, records, transcripts, and interviews that other historians would not be able to acquire in order to educate the world about Israel and its crimes against humanity with the continued settler colonial occupation and genocide of Palestinians.
  'The Biggest Prison on Earth: A History of the Occupied Territories" is an excellent book to read after Ilan's other important book "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine" further supplementing information on how the settler colonial state of Israel came to be, the Nakba, and everything that has unfolded within modern history.
  This book, like all of Ilan's works, is thorough and goes into various topics from the Oslo accords, the formation of the PLO, the Intifadas, the 1967 war, Jordan and Egypt's political roles with Israel and its control of the occupied territories of Palestine, and tons more. "The Biggest Prison on Earth" deep dives into Gaza, the West Bank, the apartheid wall, Israel's crimes, the internal displacement and forced mass exodus of Palestinians, prominent Palestinian political figures, and many more important topics. I learned a great deal from this book just as I do from every one of Ilan Pappé's books I read. I deeply admire him for his continued advocacy and true allyship with the Palestinian struggle. A deeply important read.
• 
  Brian

  Another banger from Pappe. Read this after Ethnic Cleansing... For a complete history of Israel/Palestine. Pappe is a passionate and courageous historian and writer, but this doesn't feel biased or hysterical, because Pappe is also a very good researcher and extremely thorough. He's becoming one of my favorites in this field. I hope he keeps writing.
• 
  Andrea

  este libro me radicalizó
• 
  Michael Hutchison

  One of the so called "new historians", Illan Pappe is certainly controversial to say the least. Due to his writings which describe a history quite the opposite of what we have been indoctrinated with for so may years. Pappe has been subjected to public criticism, condemnation in the Israeli Parliament, attacks on his writings by another Israeli historian Benny Morris, calls for him to be fired from his job at Haifa University, and daily death threats. In 2007 he accepted a position with the University of Exeter and is now an expatriate in the United Kingdom. His book "The Biggest Prison on Earth", describes the plan to create and the process of creation of a prison out of the occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank. I had always thought, particularly about Gaza that the Israeli's had created a huge ghetto. Something they would be familiar with from their own history. In the book Pappe describes that the Palestinians have been condemned to these open air prisons for a crime never committed. "The U.S. may incarcerate more people than any other nation, but its ally Israel runs the world’s largest prison". Palestinians are offered two types of prisons. One with self administration and little rights and the other as punishment for any resistance, a prison of severe punishment. We see this on the news. All the while Israel is constantly taking more land and creating more settlements in the occupied territories. The book describes how all this works. Israel's crimes against humanity, violations of international laws, and the military domination of a people captured in an open air prison. I wish more people would question the state narrative. Israel likes to paint itself as the victim, but if you read the book you will not accept that premise. There is a lot to consume in this book and a lot to challenge your concept of the realities of the Palestinian Israeli conflict. If you are an American you may come away from this book with an anger that our government has been supporting these Israeli crimes for so many decades.
• 
  Mark Walker

  Not as good as Pappe’s book The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine.
  He is struggling for a way of getting across what the Palestinians are subject to. That is understandable as it is a bizarre series of levers that are pulled against them. He tries to use the image of a prison, and later on develops that into open or closed prison.
  The problem is that he is so frustrated and upset at having to describe the maltreatment, that he struggles to marshall his narrative. We all absorb information in different ways so for me to spends too much time setting out the machinations of the various Israeli leaders. What would resonate more would be to describe the impact on Palestinians in very practical ways rather than more theoretical imagery.
  
• 
  Orem

  This book follows up Pappe’s other book “Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine” which discusses the 1948 war and the Nakba. I chose this one as it covers more history, although I have and do plan on reading the “first” book.
  I was glad going into this that I had background knowledge of the situation and overall this book was easy enough to read for being an academic book. I would recommend this if you’re looking for an overview of Palestinian history under Israeli colonization. It’s impossible to read this book and not see their same tactics used in the current Sheik Jarrah situation.
  If you’re willing to do some light research to contextualize or look up certain phrases, I would highly recommend this book.
• 
  رغد الرفاعي

  (أكبر سجن على الأرض) لإيلان بابيه
  يندرج تحت باب واجب القراءة.
  كتاب رائع ، يتميز بتواريخه المنظمة وأحداثه المرتبة بطريقة تجعل من لا يفقه شيئا في تاريخ فلسطين الحديث ( منذ عام ١٩٤٨ حتى اليوم ) يضع أولى خطواته نحو معرفة تامة به.
  من الكتب السياسية القليلة التي لن تتعبك، بل العكس ، ستجعلك نهماً لمعرفة المزيد.
  ستتعرف على جغرافية قطاع غزة والضفة الغربية، آلية الاستيطان والحصار فيهما، علاقة إسرائيل بالدول العربية المجاورة .
  ستوقن أن ما يحصل في فلسطين هو ليس احتلالاً وإنما استعمار استيطاني، والفرق شاسع بينهما.
  فالاحتلال يدرك فاعلوه أنه أمر مؤقت له بداية ونهاية، أما الاستعمار الاستيطاني فهو نزع السكان الأصليين من جذورهم وتبديلهم بشعب آخر.
  لكن هيهات أن تستمر أحلامهم ،
  فالله حق
  ووعده حق
  ونصره حق
• 
  Hilary

  DNF not because it’s poorly written or a “bad book” (far from) but because, even after taking a break from it, I cannot make myself continue reading this at this time. The book relies heavily on minutes of meetings and hearings and that’s valuable but also very tedious/dense, in addition to the contents of those minutes and the effects they had usually being incredibly upsetting. Maybe at another point in time I’ll manage that last third. I am actually much more interested in reading an earlier book by this author - The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine - and I think I will try to read that before returning to this one.
• 
  Diana Kullman

  It was another emotionally difficult book to read about the Palestinians and their struggle for freedom.
  I watched the news about Gaza and Israel while I was reading this book. It's been an on going horrible catastrophe for the Palestinians people for generations. The world just looked away.
• 
  Paul

  A great follow up to his previous 'ethnic cleansing' title. If Israel put as much effort into peace as they do segregation and apartheid the Middle East and the probably the world would be a much better place.
• 
  Zaynah

  A very in-depth look at the institutional evil present in the government and army that has wreaked havoc on the people of Palestine for so long.
  I would recommend this for people who are interested in bureaucracy and the more legal and governmental aspects of war and occupation.
• 
  Elke

  A much needed eye-opener that leaves me with many questions
  Very repetitive
• 
  Shaden Mansour

  سأعود لكتابة مراجعة مفصّله
• 
  Waleed

  Short, important book.
• 
  David Hunsicker

  Essential reading to understand why peace will continue to remain elusive between the Palestinians and Israelis.
• 
  Mills College Library

  956.9405 P2184 2017