A hundred years later, Bernard Regan recounts the composition of the Balfour Declaration as one of the major events in the history of the Middle East. Offering new insights into the imperial rivalries between Britain, Germany and the Ottomans, Regan exposes British policy in the region as part of a larger geopolitical game. Yet, even then, the course of events was not straightforward, and Regan charts the debates within the British government, the Zionist movement, and the Palestinian groups struggling for self-determination.

Israeli politicians like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich persistently deny the existence of a Palestinian people [“There is no such thing as a Palestinian nation. There is no Palestinian history. There is no Palestinian language”] but the historical record speaks for itself. Smotrich and pro-Israel U.S. conservatives should listen.

In Paris, far-right minister says Palestinian nation is ‘an invention of past 100 years,’ and ‘world should hear this truth’; speaks in front of Israel map that includes Jordan.

Incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to advance his mission of retconning Jewish history, one century at a time. His latest efforts were, as usual, designed to paint Palestinians, and Arabs more generally, as responsible for the worst episodes of anti-Jewish oppression over the millennia, in an attempt to reframe Israeli abuses as acts of liberation.

Could history have taken a different trajectory? Were there points during the past century at which the Palestinians could have influenced the course of events in a different direction?

“Si vous voulez voir l’apartheid israélien en résumé, allez à Hébron. Il n’y pas d’endroit où l’on puisse mieux voir avec une telle clarté éclatante toute une communauté expulsée des maisons de ses ancêtres, des milliers de personnes chassées de leurs magasins…".