The Contemporary History of Palestine According to Ilan Pappé: The Perpetual Dialogue of a Work on Occupation

Abstract

Ilan Pappé’s unique and always subjec tive perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian con-flict is valuable because it provides multiple layers of factual knowledge, essential for delving cons- cientiously into the current complexity of Pales- tinian territory and Israeli politics. This review article aims, on the one hand, to introduce po tential readers to the virtues of one of his most recent works, The Biggest Prison on Earth: A History of the Occupied Territories (2017), which immer- ses the reader in the intricate mechanisms at play under the harsh reality experienced in the occu- pied territories. Furthermore, this text goes be yond a mere review, by placing Pappé’s idiosyn- cratic work within a challenging historical frame work that also accommodates the contemporary nature of the ongoing conflict, seeking truth through understanding.