In this comprehensive survey of the Israeli occupation of Palestine, renowned Israeli historian Ilan Pappe exposes the history of one of the world's most prolonged and tragic conflicts. Locating the occupation within a wider historical context that stretches back to 1948, Pappe dismisses the conventional view that the 1967 war emerged out of the blue, 'forcing' Israel to occupy the contentious territories.

Using recently declassified archival material, Pappe analyzes the establishment of legal and security infrastructures that were put in place to control the population, revealing harsh oppression that was never advertised in international headlines, and which passed without any substantial Palestinian resistance for the first twenty years of its existence. Then turning to the years that have passed since the resistance began in 1987, Pappe offers hopeful visions of a future of reconciliation and peace.

From daily life under occupation to analyzing political positions and abortive peace attempts in the present day, this book seeks to redress the harm done by the occupation, reversing the trend of Israel's silencing any attempt to oppose it from within.