The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine

A study guide of Rashid Khalidi’s book ‘The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine.’

This study guide was written by Gari De Ramos and edited by August Devore Welles.

The ongoing conflict in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories has a one-hundred-year-long history. In his book, The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine, Rashid Khalidi breaks down what he calls the six major declarations of war that have defined the plight of the Palestinian people. Spanning 1917 to 2017, Khalidi’s work is a comprehensive overview of the complex conflict.

The book contains six chapters, each outlining one of the six declarations of war. Each chapter explores the role colonialism and Zionism have played in creating the conflict as it stands today.

This study guide was published on June 7, 2024, eight months into Israel’s offensive in Gaza. In an article from April 11, 2024, Khalidi writes the following:

The horrors we witness can only be truly comprehended as a cataclysmic new phase in a war that has been going on for several generations. This is the thesis of my book The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: that events in Palestine since 1917 resulted from a multi-stage war waged on the indigenous Palestinian population by great power patrons of the Zionist movement – a movement that was both settler colonialist and nationalist, and which aimed to replace the Palestinian people in their ancestral homeland. These powers later allied with the Israeli nation-state that grew out of that movement. Throughout this long war, the Palestinians have fiercely resisted the usurpation of their country. This framework is indispensable in explaining not only the history of the past century and more, but also the brutality that we have witnessed since 7 October.

Navigate our study guide using the table of contents below.