Help Us Stay Paywall-Free

We rely on readers to keep our website open to all. Help sustain a public space for collective reasoning and imagination—make a tax-deductible donation today.

A man looks on as fires burn in Gaza following Israeli airstrikes on May 17. Image: Ahmed Zakot / Sputnik via AP

May 19, 2021

Israel’s War on Palestine

Contrary to Israeli claims of self-defense in response to acts of terrorism, the current crisis reflects decades of brutal Israeli occupation in Gaza and the West Bank.

Just over twenty years ago, two months after Bill Clinton’s Camp David Summit failed to reach a final resolution to the 1993–1995 Oslo Accords, right-wing Israeli leader Ariel Sharon led a provocative trip to the al-Aqsa compound at the Temple Mount in East Jerusalem. The highly contested area was occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War, along with Gaza and other territory in the West Bank. Following Sharon’s visit, Palestinian protests sparked a violent crackdown by Israeli riot police, marking the beginning of five years of resistance known as the second intifada. The resulting fighting claimed thousands of lives, mostly Palestinian, and saw the rise of Hamas as a political force in Gaza.

Two decades later, history has repeated itself with Israeli aggression in East Jerusalem. Once again the al-Aqsa compound and Sharon’s party—headed since 2009 by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—are at the center of a wave of violence, following an Israeli police action at the al-Aqsa mosque on the first day of Ramadan and ongoing efforts to evict Palestinian families in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. Now in its second week, the fighting has displaced tens of thousands amidst highly destructive Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. Over 200 people have died—again mostly Palestinian, including scores of children.

To shed badly needed context on the current crisis, we compiled some of our most searching essays on Israel’s occupation of Palestine. Contrary to Israeli claims of self-defense in response to acts of terrorism, these crises reflect decades of brutal Israeli aggression in Gaza and the West Bank. Above all, these pieces speak with moral clarity about the extreme imbalance of power between Israel and occupied Palestinian territories, the ongoing humanitarian crisis under Israel’s domination of Gaza, and the far-right militarization of Jewish supremacism in Israeli politics. Reflecting on his experiences as a soldier in the Israeli army, philosopher Oded Na’aman disputes official Israeli claims that an ethical occupation is possible, while the late Rabbi Ben-Zion Gold discusses the responsibility of American Jews to hold Israel accountable.

Several essays stress the primacy of politics alongside moral exhortation. A forum with Palestinian legal scholar Lama Abu-Odeh makes the case for binationalism, while other pieces scrutinize the limitations of a one-state solution, the relationship between civil and political rights, and enduring obstacles to two states. Other contributors explore the uses and abuses of historical understanding, emphasizing how it is both essential for peace and liable to distortion. In two feature reports from the late 2000s, Middle East correspondent Helena Cobban tracks in great detail how the rise of Hamas and the decline of the Israeli peace movement transformed Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy. A final set of essays mines other forceful visions of Israeli-Palestinian life, from Israeli and Palestinian novels and the work of Edward Said to the largely forgotten Jewish territorialist movement, which imagined forms of Jewish self-determination beyond statehood in Palestine.

Together they offer an indispensable guide to the current crisis and the movement for peace.

Avner Inbar, Assaf Sharon

A Palestinian peacemaker gives up on politics.

Helena Cobban

Hamas and the end of the two-state solution.

Oded Na’aman

War is almost always a choice, a madness we go along with.

Assaf Sharon

In Israel and Palestine, two states are still better than one.

Joseph Levine

Why we must acknowledge the claims of the Palestinians.

Colin Dayan

Talking about Gaza is like talking about God. We face the ineffable. We cannot talk about what we see. 

Jeremy Pressman

Without Oslo, Israelis and Palestinians would not have been as committed to a two-state solution as they are today.

Ezra Glinter

Alternatives to Zionism, from the Uganda Scheme to Birobidzhan, present a complex history of the search for a Jewish home.

Helena Cobban

The decline of Israel’s progressive movement.

Oded Na’aman

As you stand at the checkpoint, you must constantly consider the various ways you may be attacked.

Ben-Zion Gold
The responsibility of American Jews.
Elias Khoury

Imagining justice in Palestine.

Assaf Sharon

The militarization of Jewish supremacism in Israel.

Jeremy Pressman

For a two-state solution to succeed, Israeli Jews must first forswear their righteous narrative of moral superiority.

Our weekly themed Reading Lists compile the best of Boston Review’s archive. Sign up for our newsletters to get them straight to your inbox before they appear online.

Boston Review is nonprofit and reader funded.

We believe in the power of collective reasoning and imagination to create a more just world. That’s why we’re committed to keeping our website free and open to everyone, regardless of ability to pay. But we can’t do it without the financial support of our readers.

Help sustain a public space for collective reasoning and imagination, without ads or paywalls:

Become a supporting reader today.

Get Our Newsletter

Sign up to get vital reading on politics, literature, and more sent straight to your inbox.

Most Recent

Lewis Gordon and Nathalie Etoke discuss the space for freedom opened up by Black existentialist thought.

Nathalie Etoke, Lewis Gordon

The post-work movement reckons with reproductive labor.

Rachel Fraser

Melvin Rogers and Neil Roberts discuss the difficulty of keeping faith in a foundationally anti-Black republic.

Melvin Rogers, Neil Roberts

Just in time for the holidays, get any three print issues of Boston Review for just $35 – that’s 40% off the cover price!

Before December 9, mix and match any three issues for one low price using code 3FOR35.

Just in time for the holidays, get any three print issues of Boston Review for just $35 – that’s 40% off the cover price!

Before December 9, mix and match any three issues for one low price using code 3FOR35.

We can't publish without your support.

For nearly 50 years, Boston Review has been a home for collective reasoning and imagination on behalf of a more just world.

But our future is never guaranteed. As a small, independent nonprofit, we have no endowment or single funder. We rely on contributions from readers like you to sustain our work.

If you appreciate what we publish and want to help ensure a future for the great writing and constructive debate that appears in our pages, please make a tax-deductible donation today.

"An indispensable pillar of the public sphere."

That’s what sociologist Alondra Nelson says of Boston Review. Independent and nonprofit, we believe in the power of collective reasoning and imagination to create a more just world.

That’s why there are no paywalls on our website, but we can’t do it without the support of our readers. Please make a tax-deductible donation to help us create a more inclusive and egalitarian public sphere—open to everyone, regardless of ability to pay.