The historian and writer Rashid Khalidi (New York, 1948) was born into a family of Palestinian-Lebanese origin that never forgot its roots. His great-great-grandfather, Yusuf Diya al-Khalidi, was mayor of Jerusalem, and he took the reins of an endless historical legacy that he narrates in the first person in Palestine: One Hundred Years of Colonialism and Resistance (Captain Swing, 2023). Khalidi, holder of the Edward Said Chair of Arab Studies at Columbia University, receives LA RAZÓN at Casa Árabe in Madrid, where he presents his book.
The Arab-Israeli conflict is actually a colonial conflict.
Colonial nature has two faces. First of all, the British. When the United Kingdom conquered Palestine, it issued the Balfour Declaration, by which it gave a country to which it had no right to another people. The Palestinians were never mentioned in the declaration or in the British mandate. Furthermore, Zionism saw itself as a colonial project. They understood that they were implanting a largely European Jewish population in a non-European land. In the book I focus especially on the leaders of revisionist Zionism, such as Theodor Herzl, David Ben-Gurion, Chaim Weizmann, who have dominated Israeli politics since the 1970s. Only through force can we overcome the resistance of the Arabs. Some as [el líder sionista Zeev] Jabotinksy, whom I quote, understood that the Arabs had a national cause. But they simply believed that their cause was more just. If you look today at the Occupied Territories, at the settlers, you realize that. It is not very different from what happened in Algeria, North America or Australia.
Divide the book into six chapters. One for each declaration of war against the Palestinians. From the Balfour Declaration to the failed peace processes. Is a seventh in progress?
The sixth declaration of war, which I talk about in the book, focuses on Israel’s attacks on Gaza, which is what we’ve been seeing in the last week. It is the continuation of that cycle. Can we see something different? maybe. There is a different form of resistance that is taking place in the West Bank, which is not organized from the outside or from the top, which appears to be grassroots, spontaneous. It is not Hamas, it is not Fatah… it is not Islamic Jihad either. This is a possible change; the other is the greater extremism of the Israeli government, with figures such as [el ministro de Finanzas, Bezalel] smoothrich or [el titular de Seguridad Pública Itamar] Ben Gvir, who have spoken as if they wanted to expel more Palestinians. So we may see a seventh declaration of war, which will not come from the Palestinians. Resistance is inevitable as a result of the occupation. There will continue to be forms of resistance. Armed, violent or peaceful. Simply staying on the ground is a form of resistance, refusing to come out is a form of resistance. Whether there is a seventh declaration of war will depend on Israel, and what the United States or the European Union will let it do.
He devotes a good part of the book to the division within the Palestinian political organizations.
One of the great obstacles facing the Palestinians is not just division, but the absence of a unified national movement, the absence of a clear strategy. And there is no clear message either to the world or to Israelis. In the 1970s and 1980s, until Oslo, it was clear that the Palestinians wanted a state alongside Israel. But it is time for them to have a new vision, because Israel has closed the door on the two-state solution. That ship has already sailed, although some in Washington and Brussels still don’t want to see it.
A new leadership beyond the Palestinian Authority and Hamas?
I urge, it is time for you to have a new vision. I am especially critical of the two leaderships, the one in Ramallah and the one in Gaza. Because they maintain division, they are undemocratic – there have been no elections since 2006, and there must be elections. And because they do not have a strategy to reverse the situation. Now, in the past, Israel has done everything possible to arrest or kill Palestinian leaders. And not only military leaders, considered terrorists, but intellectuals, politicians, diplomats. It will be very difficult. Perhaps the next generation of leaders will have to emerge outside the Occupied Territories, or perhaps within Israel, or in the Diaspora. Of course, having an elected and unified Palestinian leadership is the requirement for any change.
Israel is experiencing one of its greatest political and social crises in its history. What should be the position of the Palestinians?
It is a crisis that mainly affects the rights of Israeli Jewish citizens. What the Israeli far right is trying to do is disenfranchise some Israelis and prevent the Supreme Court from protecting them. The Supreme Court has never actually protected the rights of Palestinians, neither Palestinian citizens of Israel nor Palestinians residing in the Occupied Territories. And when it does, it generates a furious reaction from the right. However, the opposition [a la reforma judicial del primer ministro, Benjamín Netanyahu] it has mobilized to protect the rights of women, of secular Israelis, of the LGBT community. It is an unprecedented crisis, but so far it only affects the rights of the Jewish citizens of Israel. If I ever crossed that line and talked about everyone’s rights, the scenario would change.
As you know, Israel and Islamic Jihad agreed to a ceasefire this week after nearly a week of fighting. How do you assess the announcement and, above all, that Hamas has not intervened?
Israel has security agreements with the Palestinian Authority, everyone knows that. [El presidente palestino, Mahmud] Abbas has it, and so does Hamas. They are agreements to stop the militancy, to stop the attacks against Israel, in exchange for the opening of some barriers for the transit of people and goods. These agreements are still in force, which explains why Hamas has not intervened since 2019. Since then, there have been three missile exchanges between Israel and Gaza, and the truce is always carried out with the mediation of Egypt, Qatar and Turkey.
He recounts that, in 1968, he joined a demonstration at Yale University against then-Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, when she was visiting. There were only four students, for the dozens that greeted her with cheers. Would this be possible today?
Not at all. The dynamics have completely changed. Young people are much more critical today, it is a generational change that has occurred, above all, in the United States. Nobody considers Israel a little David fighting Goliath anymore. They know that he is much more powerful than all the Arab countries, including Iran, and that he has nuclear weapons.
The Abraham Accords, signed by former US President Donald Trump, completely changed the landscape of the Middle East, skirting Palestinian claims. The Biden Administration has maintained this agenda. What do you expect from Washington?
There has been virtually no change in US policy on any major issue relating to Palestine. Since President Joe Biden was elected, the US Embassy remains in Jerusalem, the US has recognized Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights… and the immobility will continue because, although the Democratic Party has changed and its voters have changed, its leaders No.
