10-09-2026, 08:26 PM
RASHID KHALIDI: HOW BRITAIN'S COLONIAL PLAYBOOK SHAPED THE ISRAELI ARMY
In this Gaza Excellence Talk, hosted by Academic Solidarity with Palestine with partner universities in Gaza, Rashid Khalidi previews his forthcoming book, tentatively titled Britain, Ireland and Palestine. Khalidi traces how British counterinsurgency doctrine was codified in military textbooks and turned against civilians in Ireland (1919–21) and during the Great Revolt in Palestine (1936–39). He shows how it was then passed down to the Zionist paramilitaries who formed the core of the Israeli army, and argues that this legacy has escalated into the genocide in Gaza. Responses from Maha Nassar, Susanna Ferguson, and Rana Barakat follow, along with a Q&A on resistance, the role of the Western metropole, and what academics can do.
Rashid Khalidi is Edward Said Professor Emeritus of Arab Studies at Columbia University. He received a B.A. from Yale University and a D. Phil. from Oxford University, and has taught at the Lebanese University, the American University of Beirut, and the University of Chicago. He was editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies, and served as President of the Middle East Studies Association. He is the President of the Institute for Palestine Studies-USA. He has authored eight books, including The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler-Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017.