Falk Richard - Palestine: the Legitimacy of Hope

Richard Falk, the former UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, wields the sharpest of word-swords in the legitimacy struggle that shapes todays search for justice for Palestinians. In this extraordinary collection, he once again provides us with the tools to forge a path through the thicket of lies, propaganda and cruelty that mask the real basis for achieving Palestinian rights: international law, human rights, and equality for all. Global civil society has joined Palestinians to embrace that path; Falks groundbreaking work challenges governments to do so as well.

PHYLLIS BENNIS

Director, New Internationalism Project

Institute for Policy Studies

Palestine: The Legitimacy of Hope is the writing of a great mind with a brave heart and a moral compass.

MARWAN BISHARA

Senior political analyst, Al-Jazeera English

This book is a gem of brilliant clarity. In his years as Special Rapporteur on Palestine for the UN Human Rights Council Richard Falk in his bi-annual reports consistently provided a truthful witness to the unspeakable ordeal of the prolonged and harsh Israeli occupation. This collection of his blogs will bring his painstaking research to a wider readership, drawn by the combination of moving reports, simple style and deep insight.

Palestine: The Legitimacy of Hope , gives us Professor Falks coherent thoughts about how he has seen Palestinians evolve in tactics and aspirations as door after door closed to them, and they understood that neither international law or diplomacy, or the United Nations, or the Arab world, or their own military capacity, was going to bring them relief from the Occupation. Legitimacy struggle is Falks phrase to describe todays Palestinian grand strategy of resistance and liberationnon-violent and based on morality as well as international law and international human rights standards. The authors own courage, affinities with those suffering injustice, and his unflinching moral standards shine through every chapter and make this a book that inspires as well as informs.

VICTORIA BRITTAIN

Author, Shadow Lives: The Forgotten Women of the War on Terror

Professor Falks mandate as the UN Human Rights Council special rapporteur on Occupied Palestine has given him a front row seat in observing the tragic reality of the lives of the Palestinian people over recent years. This book comprising blogs that he issued over this period provides important and timely commentary into the multiple facets of the situation, as they arose. His often unconventional thoughts are expressed in a frank and fearless, frequently controversial manner. But what shines through is his belief in the legitimacy struggle of the Palestinians and in the importance of non-traditional ways of seeking their objectives, notably in the actions from below, those of ordinary people. It is an important read for those who believe in the solidarity of global civil society and their wielding of soft power as instruments for social change.

CHRISTINE CHINKIN

Member, UN Fact Finding Mission
on the Gaza Conflict, 2009

Richard Falk writes that he has sought to be a truthful observer. He has succeeded admirably, and gone well beyond. The essays collected here are perceptive and informative, rich in insight and understanding, inspired by just sympathy for the oppressed and their legitimate struggles, above all by the determination of Palestinians to resist the dismal fate projected for them by criminal Israeli policies conducted with unremitting US support. It is an impressive record of Falks remarkable contributions during the difficult and fateful years of his dedicated and courageous service as UN Special Rapporteur for Palestine.

NOAM CHOMSKY

Political theorist, media critic,
and linguistics scholar

This volume, like Richard Falk himself, is equal parts brilliance and compassion. What began as blog posts blends into a distillation of a lifetime of thinking about and working on Palestine and Israel. This book has no peer.

LISA HAJJAR

Chair, Law and Society Program,

University of CaliforniaSanta Barbara

This is the voice of reasoned outrage. The blogosphere and legal scholarship are combined in an extraordinarily moving, detailed, and perceptive account of what Richard Falk calls the legitimacy struggle of the Palestinian people. Anyone who cares about human solidarity and wants to understand what is happening now in Gaza must read this book.

MARY KALDOR

Professor of Global Governance,
London School of Economics

This book reflects an extraordinary lifetime of scholarship, political engagement, and intellectual brilliance. Richard Falks blend of universal principle, forensic critique of power, and sensitive appreciation of the challenges faced by Palestinians makes him uniquely placed to advance a liberation strategy for Palestine. He does so here with his typical grace, intelligence and commitment. Always at the forefront of struggles for justice from Vietnam to Palestine, Palestine, the Legitimacy of Hope sets out a radical solution that is courageous, gentle, and full of humanity.

KARMA NABULSI

University lecturer in politics and
international relations, Oxford University

Professor Falk has an unbroken record of speaking forthrightly about Justice and in particular on Palestine. Both as a scholar and practitioner he has gathered an impressive understanding and detailed knowledge of the mechanisms of control and the exercise of power by the strong against the weak. He has used his high academic standing to seek justice and insist on the exercise of rights. He provides an important model for the engaged academic who is willing to suffer the harsh consequences of taking an unpopular position in his defense of principles he believes in.

In a world permeated and controlled by cynical powers pitting the strong against the weak, Falks erudition and voice is an important one that gives hope by paving the way for a new kind of struggle for Justice.

RAJA SHEHADEH

Founder, Al-Haq

Author, Occupation Diaries

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