The Biggest Prison on Earth

Ilan Pappé

Through newly revealed documents, Israeli historian Ilan Pappé presents concrete evidence that the 1967 war was not an inevitable outcome of escalating tensions between Israel, Syria, and Egypt, as the well-known historical narrative suggests. The swift resolution of the battle and the administrative mechanism put into effect immediately after the fighting raise legitimate questions about what was truly planned. In reality, neither the 1948 UN resolutions that seized 78% of Palestinian land, nor all the world's complicity, were enough to satisfy the Zionists' greed for control over what they consider part of their historical homeland—the West Bank and Gaza Strip. They held numerous meetings in dark rooms, devising legal and organizational plans to occupy these territories and expel Palestinians, waiting for an opportunity to implement them, which came about two decades later. As soon as the dust of battle settled, the Israelis began transforming the West Bank and Gaza into a large prison. Palestinians became a people without identity, rights, or the basic means of subsistence, their land torn apart by settlements planted like wedges. This secret plan remains in effect today; Israel has succeeded in emptying all peace initiatives of their substance, exploiting every expression of Palestinian anger to annex more land and escalate violence, humiliation, and genocide with the aim of establishing an ethnically pure Jewish state.