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The quest for an inclusive and independent state has been at the center of the Palestinian national struggle for a very long time. This book critically explores the meaning of Palestinian statehood and the challenges that face alternative models to it. Giving prominence to a young set of diverse Palestinian scholars, this groundbreaking book shows how notions of citizenship, sovereignty, and nationhood are being rethought within the broader context of decolonization. Bringing forth critical and multifaceted engagements with what modern Palestinian self-determination entails, Rethinking Statehood sets the terms of debate for the future of Palestine beyond partition.

About the Author

Leila H. Farsakh is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She is author of Palestinian Labor Migration to Israel: Labour, Land and Occupation and coeditor of The Arab and Jewish Questions: Geographies of Engagement in Palestine and Beyond.

Learn More

Interview with Leila H. Farsakh on jadaliyya.com

Reviews

"At a juncture when independent Palestinian statehood seems unachievable, these astute reflections on self-determination, the state, settler colonialism, and alternative paths to Palestinian liberation are particularly welcome. They analyze how Palestine came to be at this current impasse and offer innovative suggestions for how to provide renewed dynamism to the Palestinian struggle outside the confines of a two-state solution that has been systematically sabotaged by Israel for over fifty years." –– Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University and author of The Hundred Years' War on Palestine

"In drawing together such an outstanding group of scholars from across a range of disciplines, this exceptional collection of essays offers new insights that will help policy makers, scholars, and activists to this more boldly, more creatively, and in ways that advance the rights of the Palestinian people." –– Karma Nabulsi, Professor in Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford

"As the period inaugurated by the emergence of the fedayeen in the 1960s then the Oslo Accords draws to a close, this book provides crucial answers to the challenges facing the Palestinians and the nature of the relationship between national liberation, human liberation, and state-building." ––Alain Gresh, author of The PLO: The Struggle Within, and founder of Orient XXI

"Rethinking Statehood in Palestine presents thought-provoking and well-written perspectives on a series of urgent issues and questions facing Palestinians (and indeed Israelis) as the prospects for Palestinian statehood become ever more troubled. Breaking new analytical ground, the book is also theoretically rich for its more general explorations of the nation-state, citizenship, transitional justice, and the efficacy (or not) of international legal mechanisms in addressing injustice. There is definitely a public, nonacademic audience for this book."—Penny Johnson, co-editor of Seeking Palestine: New Writings on Home and Exile