Israel on the Brink - Ilan Pappe

Ilan Pappe's ISRAEL ON THE BRINK: and the Eight Revolutions that Could Lead to DECOLONIZATION and COEXISTENCE is a thought provoking, fascinating book which should be of interest to readers who care about Israel and Judaism and are open to a vision of the present and future that may be at least partially new to them.    

This book, if not Pappe's greatest writing, seems his most important one both in evaluating the past through the present with its many false narratives, and in looking to the future (with at least a little hope) in this era of ongoing genocide!

Pappe talks of Israel's evoluation from a significantly secular Jewish country, to one where extremely religious (mostly) men wield a lot of power.  He speaks of a split between "The State of Judea" - racist, religious, and rabidly anti-Palestinian, in contrast to often not particularly religious Israeli Jews, whose core values are different. The latter people are noted as being similar to the former in that they have little or no sympathy/empathy for Israel's Palestinian citizens as well as the stateless Palestinians of The West Bank and Gaza.

As long as the current framework of the State of Israel persists, there's no prospect of putting an end to Israeli denialism about Zionism as an inherentlyviolent political project, dating back to dispossessions of the 1920s, climaxing with the first ethnic cleansing of 1948, and continuing to our present times, as the West Bank is de-Arabized and genocide unfolds in the Gaza Strip.  Israel's identity as a state hinges on it having done nothing wrong, and so Israelis happily believe they are the innocent party, regardless of how much the historical record speaks against them.

For the sake of building a better future, Israel has to acknowledge specific injustices that were catastrophic for the Palestinians.   It has to recognize events located in time and space, as well as their perpetrators, even if they are no longer among the living.  If Israel reflects, for instance, on the war plans made in 1948 and subsequently executed, it may be forced to see some celebrated national heroes in a different and darker light. (p. 69)

Pappe methodically lays out his narrative as a historian in exile (he left Israel for graduate school in England and has been a professor there), relying significantly upon the key perspective of colonialism of "outsiders" (my word), the Jewish immigrants following World War I through the present.   He accepts the obvious facts that Great Britain, following the first World War, and the United States more recently, have made political/ tactical decisions, ignoring International Law, United Nations determinations, and similar.  He further notes how the rulers of the Arab countries of the Middle East have rarely been allies of the Palestinian People.

He expresses hopes for an eventual positive, just future, coming primarily from young Palestinian People, not tied to the status quo and recent history, increasingly supported by younger Jews, as well as the countries of the Global South, no longer dominated by The United States and the Western European powers.

This fascinating book concludes with a fictitious projection from 2027 to 2048, with updates on May 15th in various years.   His narrator appears to be himself (he was born in 1954) moving eventually into his 90's.   This unique approach helps a curious reader think, and (perhaps) question one's individual perspective.

I feel that Pappe both provides a detailed historical narrative most effectively, as well as helping open up curious readers to see deep realities they might otherwise not see.   Clearly, also, a skeptical, doubting, "intellectual only" reader, may remain in denial of the realities Pappe sees.

Pappe and I are Jewish, male peers (I'm three years older than he is).   My father emigrated from Berlin to Cincinnati in 1927, at the age of nine.   Pappe's parents fled Germany in the 1930's.   We both grew up "learning" of how Israel was a wonderful, amazing "underdog" which miraculously "made it" through heroism and a lot of hard work.   

Pappe "unlearned" the propaganda largely as an undergrad at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.   It took me longer, learning from the words of Jewish voices such as Noam Chomsky in the 1980's.

Most of my relatives (many in Israel - including descendants of SY Agnon (Israel's first Nobel Laureate)) no doubt support the mainstream narratives about Israel.

Relatively few white people I know and meet in this country both have more than a passing interest in Israel, and see things faintly close to my perspective (Black and Brown People and those with personal ties to people from Middle Eastern countries such as Lebanon, Egypt, Iran, or Yemen often seem much more congruent with me).

Being visible in public over the past several years with shirts that say things like: "Free Palestine",  I've been called things like: "Nazi, Anti-Semitic, Self-Hating Jew" by fellow Jews.  They particularly seem upset when I respond to their negative responses to my clothing's message (only) by responding: "I'm (often "also") Jewish".

I corresponded briefly almost a year ago, after no contact for some years, with a high school classmate of mine.   He has lived in Israel since his h.s. graduationin 1968.    Our "surface" similarities and potential connecting points are significant.   Our families were friends throughout most of my childhood.   His words (below), while perhaps a little pushed by being triggered by my (measured) words to him, show the "disconnect" in the U.S. with fellow (former) Americans in Israel and others who are Jewish.

Your anti-Zionism, your belief that it is Israel that is preventing a peace process, when the Palestinians turned down the state they were offered again and again, your belief that Israel is not a democratic country in which Arabs have full rights, serve in the Knesset, and as judges, doctors, lawyers and professors, with full voting rights, your belief that you have Asperger's, which I find personally offensive, your belief that Israelis consider themselves superior to the Palestinian people, your belief that no two state solution was ever offered beginning in 1947, all combine to make me not want to have any discourse with you, now or in the future.

Your unwillingness to completely denounce the massacre of Oct 7 together with its continuing missile strikes against Israel are the most troubling. I find it sad that while you mention meeting certain Palestinians, I have yet to hear from you regarding meeting a single pro-Israeli person of any nationality beginning from when you were old enough to understand them. It's one thing to be anti-Zionist, and completely something else to be willing to go along, however mildly, with the massacre of citizens in any country, especially Israel. 

The Jews of Germany assimilated beautifully prior to the mid 20^th Century, for all the good that did them. 

Please do not waste my time in trying to contact me again. I want nothing to do with you. 

Ilan Pappe is much more eloquent than I am and knows a lot more than I do!

This book published September 30, 2025 book is excellent! 

OTHER BOOKS ILAN PAPPE HAS WRITTEN

• Pappé, Ilan (18 September 2025). Israel on the Brink: Eight Steps for a Better Future. London: Oneworld Publications. ISBN 9781836430636.

• Pappé, Ilan (3 October 2024). A Very Short History of the Israel-Palestine Conflict. London: Oneworld Publications. ISBN 9780861549719.

• Pappé, Ilan (2024). Lobbying for Zionism on Both Sides of the Atlantic. London: Oneworld Publications. ISBN 9780861544028. See also The Israel Lobby Is Real. This Is How It Works | Aaron Bastani meets Ilan Pappé, Youtube, 2024 Jun 16, and The Israel Lobby with John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt | Outside the Box Podcast, Youtube, 2024 Apr 17.

• The Biggest Prison on Earth: A History of the Occupied Territories. London: Oneworld Publications. 2017. ISBN 978-1-85168-587-5. Archived from the original on 14 October 2023.
• Ten Myths About Israel. New York: Verso. 2017. ISBN 9781786630193
• (with Noam Chomsky) On Palestine. Chicago: Haymarket Books. 2015. ISBN 978-1-60846-470-8.
• The Idea of Israel: A History of Power and Knowledge. New York: Verso. 2014.
• "The Boycott Will Work: An Israeli Perspective" in Audrea Lim (ed.) The Case for Sanctions Against Israel. London & Brooklyn, NY: Verso. 2012.
• The Forgotten Palestinians: A History of the Palestinians in Israel. New Haven: Yale University Press. 2011.
• (with Noam Chomsky) Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on Israel's War Against the Palestinians (Hamish Hamilton, 2010). ISBN 978-0-241-14506-7
• Out of the Frame: The Struggle for Academic Freedom in Israel. London: Pluto Press. 2010.
• The Rise and Fall of a Palestinian Dynasty: The Husaynis, 1700–1948. London: Saqi Books. 2010.
• The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (London and New York: Oneworld, 2006). ISBN 1-85168-467-0
• The Modern Middle East (London and New York: Routledge, 2005). ISBN 0-415-21409-2
• A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples (Cambridge University Press, 2004), ISBN 0-521-55632-5
• (With Jamil Hilal). Parlare Con il Nemico, Narrazioni palestinesi e israeliane a confronto (Milano: Bollati Boringhieri, 2004).
• The Aristocracy: The Husaynis; A Political Biography (Jerusalem: Mossad Byalik, (Hebrew), 2003).
• The Israel-Palestine Question (London and New York: Routledge, 1999; 2006). ISBN 0-415-16948-8
• (with M. Maoz). History From Within: Politics and Ideas in Middle East (London and New York: Tauris, 1997). ISBN 1-86064-012-5
• (with J. Nevo). Jordan in the Middle East: The Making of a Pivotal State (London: Frank Cass, 1994). ISBN 0-7146-3454-9
• The Making of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1947–1951 (London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 1992; 1994). ISBN 1-85043-819-6
• Britain and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1948–1951 (London: St. Antony's College Series, Macmillan Press; New York: St. Martin's Press, 1988). ISBN 0-312-01573-9
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