U.S. President Joe Biden was seen leaving a bookstore on Friday after purchasing a controversial book on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict authored by a Palestinian scholar.
He was seen holding the title The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017 by Palestinian historian Rashid Khalidi. The outing was part of Biden’s participation in the American tradition of Black Friday shopping, marking the start of the holiday season.
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US President Joe Biden buys book by vocal Israel critic on Black Friday
(Photo: Mandel Ngan / AFP)
Khalidi, a prominent critic of Israeli policy, has sharply condemned Israel’s actions, particularly following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. Earlier this year, he said that he would not support Biden’s reelection.
The 2020 book provides a controversial and critical analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, accusing Israel of waging a “colonialist war” against Palestinians. Khalidi argues that Palestinian history reflects a century-long struggle against Zionist and later Israeli policies supported by Western powers, including the U.S. and Britain.
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In interviews, Khalidi has criticized Israel’s actions in Gaza, calling them “ethnic cleansing” without clear political objectives. He has also condemned former President Donald Trump’s policies, including moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, as discriminatory against Palestinians.
Khalidi describes three potential outcomes for conflicts between settlers and indigenous populations: total defeat of the indigenous people, as in North America; the colonialists’ expulsion, as in Algeria; or reconciliation and compromise, as in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Ireland.
He praised the first Palestinian Intifada as a “victory” against oppression but called the Second Intifada, which led to the construction of the Israeli separation barrier, the “greatest failure” of the Palestinian national movement.