A set of hijackings carried out by Palestinian resistance groups in September 1970 set off a war between them and Jordan. It culminated in the killing of approximately 10,000 to 25,000 Palestinians. The war was significant because of its unusual geopolitics. It involved Pakistan’s former General Muhammad Zia-Ul-Haq rebuilding Jordan’s tattered military
Mark Curtis looks at the current war in Gaza from the perspective of Britain's imperial past in this edited extract from his book Secret Affairs: Britain’s Collusion with Radical Islam.
By Mark Curtis
Declassified UK
After the Second World War British planners were confronted by the outb
Unending war in the Middle East is not a subject that invites impartiality, writes Donald Macintyre. Controversial? Perhaps, but he should know – he was The Independent’s man on the front line for years and wrote an acclaimed book about Gaza. Who better to ask to unpick the challenge authors face when writing about the region? Plus, Don’s five favourite books for understanding the conflict better
Today’s events are the product of the founding of Israel in 1948 through the forcible expulsion of Palestine’s existing Arab population and of the three-quarters of a century of brutality and mass murder that followed.