Palestine

A Four Thousand Year History

By: Nur Masalha

Narrated by: Fajer Al-Kaisi

Length: 16 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

This rich and magisterial work traces Palestine's millennia-old heritage, uncovering cultures and societies of astounding depth and complexity that stretch back to the very beginnings of recorded history.

Starting with the earliest references in Egyptian and Assyrian texts, Nur Masalha explores how Palestine and its Palestinian identity have evolved over thousands of years, from the Bronze Age to the present day. Drawing on a rich body of sources and the latest archaeological evidence, Masalha shows how Palestine's multicultural past has been distorted and mythologized by Biblical lore and the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

In the process, Masalha reveals that the concept of Palestine, contrary to accepted belief, is not a modern invention or one constructed in opposition to Israel, but rooted firmly in ancient past. Palestine represents the authoritative account of the country's history.

©2018 Nur Masalha (P)2021 Tantor

History on the verge of fiction

It’s more propaganda than history! There is a lot of “probably and could be” in this book.

Detailed history

This book was written with a high level of attention to detail and historical accounts.

Great Book, lots of unknown knowledge and facts

Great book well read, deep look into the history of Palestine, it is a must read to those who find this region of the world a must understand.

Amazing history of Palestine with Encyclopedic in depth!

The best book I ever read in the history of Palestine. Well written and engaging. Highly recommend it!

More political manifesto than history book

The tone and contents of the book made me do a bit of research; Masalha's educational background is in political science, and the extent to which he carefully selects his sources, avoids presenting data that is counter to his thesis, and misrepresents the positions held by the academic community (as it pertains to the history of Palestine) makes me inclined to think he's more interested in storing rhetorical points against strawmen than in presenting a truly informative work of history.

There's some fantastic information and excellent scholarship represented in this book; if you're already deeply familiar with the history of Palestine as told by mainstream historians, I'd recommend you pick up the book and give it a read.

However, if you're looking for a solid overview of the history of Palestine, or an introduction to the topic, I'd recommend steering clear of this one, as Masalha is not interested in helping you make a distinction between fact and argument and conjecture.

Must read

Just as Edward Said de-colonized Oriental studies, Masalha does the same to Palestinian history, which has been purposefully suppressed and obscured

Comprehensive and valuable

While not exactly a page-turner, when countering a sophisticated force intent on erasing historical memory of a people and identity, it's understandable that every detail be exhausted in defense. A lot, and I mean a lot, of historical documentation and cartography is presented establishing the legitimacy of a Palestinian identity, thereby substantiating a claim to nationhood, or at least formulating a legal standing to arbitrate for it. The history of the settler colonial toponymic project is particularly egregious. The effort to replace long existing place names with those suited to a self-serving biblical reference is cynicism of the highest order, and deserves about the same amount of respect as does the fiction within the books in that particular collection. A valuable, reliable resource for understanding the conflict in the region.

Spotlight on a dark area

It is a very strong narrative mainly on the indigenous peoples that lived there for 3000 continuous years and found their whole universe destroyed as a society in 1948 (my family included): economically, socially, physically, politically, intellectually… the fact that there is a concentrated efforts to wipe their memory like they have never existed is something that this book tries to demonstrate.

Just a final friendly observation to the narrator to try to enhance his pronunciation of certain Arabic words as it was sometimes confusing.

Good history

Very thorough account of Palestinian history from ancient times through 1948. Highly recommended to listen.

Informative and surprising.

The amount of speculation is minimal with many facts citing their sources. I previously had no knowledge of the history of "Israel" Palestine and once asked a friend and Orthadox Jew about it. He told me there was nothing there but a few small villages and that the Arabs tried farming the land but nothing would grow. He also told me that there is no such thing as Palestinians, as they are just Jordanian refugees. This seemed odd to me and is a clear example of what the author describes. This book is filled with information that explains the long history of Palestine and the erasure/eradication of the indigenous Palestinian history and people.

Myth busting

Any negative reviews will be cry baby zionists whose creation myth of a land without a people and a people without a land is taken apart with evidence by this book.

Very detailed and deep history of the land of Palestine

Unfortunately Really poorly narrated

I downloaded this book as it seemed to be another alternative perspective to the Palestine situation - unfortunately it’s so hard to listen to I am really struggling

Whilst there is undoubtedly interesting content here I have tried multiple times and just can’t listen more than 20 mins at a time

Sorry to be negative but it’s disappointing