Rashid Khalidi: Violent Settler Colonialism Caused This War
Rashid Khalidi is a leading historian of the Middle East. In an interview, he explains how the current war in Palestine is the product of decades of violent settler colonialism designed to drive the Palestinians from their land.
Palestinians sit near a destroyed building following the Israeli attacks on the al-Salam Neighborhood in Rafah, Gaza, on May 5, 2024. (Abed Rahim Khatib / Anadolu via Getty Images)
The terrible injustices that were inherent in the dispossession of the Palestinians and the denial of their national existence have to be remedied. There’s no way around it.Professor Rashid Khalidi is a Palestinian American historian at Columbia University — and an authority on the Middle East conflict. In his book The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine, he explores the deeper roots of a campaign of ethnic cleansing, which is today reaching new heights of violence.
In late April, Khalidi participated in the Bard College Berlin conference “Witnessing Atrocities: Dissent in the Wake of Gaza,” held at the Spore Initiative. At it, he spoke to Hanno Hauenstein about the antiwar protests in the United States, Israel’s actions in Gaza, and the current political climate in Germany, where his book was recently released in translation. This text based on their conversation is lightly edited for clarity.
Hanno Hauenstein
There are currently protests happening on campuses all over the United States, most notably at your own university, Columbia. Often, they are labeled “antisemitic.” How do you view those protests?
Rashid Khalidi
This article is for subscribers only. Please login or subscribe to access our full archives and beautiful print and digital magazine starting at just $3 a month.