By Azim Hajee

New Beacon Books asked veteran British activist Azim Hajee to recommend a reading list of 10 books that give the background to the struggle for Palestine with Israel.

To follow is a history of his background:

With Camden black Workers Group (CBWG) I campaigned vigorously for our union, NALGO, to break its long-standing links with Histradut, the Israeli trade union - this was a year after TU Friends of Israel had falsely accused CBWG of making ‘racist remarks’. Our members were shocked and surprised given that our entire raison d’être was to challenge racism within Camden’s unions, from which CBWG drew its membership.

CBWG self-organised black workers from all of Camden’s unions - including NALGO, NUPE, AEU and COHSE. On two occasions we invited John La Rose, founder of New Beacon Books, to speak at our local branch and our National Black Members’ Conference.

As a result of our campaign, NALGO’s National Conference instructed the union to break all links with Histradut. At one point they had blocked our funding, alleging misuse of funds, but we defiantly organised our Black Members Conference independently using our own funds, and subsequently the allegation was successfully overturned.

In 1990 I took part in a Black delegation to various Palestinian cities including Nablus, Ramallah, Jericho, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Hebron and Jerusalem. We met with human rights organisations such as B’tSelem, and visited hospitals in which were young Palestinian children, who had been shot and wounded with coated steel bullets and plastic bullets.

From that delegation Asad Rehman and myself decided to stay an extra week in Jerusalem. We witnessed, on 8 October 1990 the aftermath of what became known as the ‘al-Aqsa Massacre’. A fringe Jewish group called the “Temple Mount Faithful” had tried to place a cornerstone at the mosque, sparking riots in which some19-23 Palestinians were killed with live ammunition and rubber bullets and 150 injured.

As we walked around the pock-marked mosque, we saw blood splattered across its ground. Palestinians had placed a flower pot at each spot where victims had died. I recall BBC journalist Jeremy Bowen was there. When I returned, I described it as one of my most traumatic experiences.

I returned to Palestine, in 2019, on a fundraising trek with 25 others. At the airport, all six Asian members were detained for several hours. Our group raised over £70k for medical aid for Palestinians, We visited Nablus, Jericho, Nazareth, Hebron , Bethlehem. I met Israeli-Arab Knesset members on a three-day hunger strike in Jerusalem where I’d stayed an extra week.

Before then, UNISON, formed from a merger of NALGO, NUPE and COHSE, had already rekindled its relations with Palestine: “In April 2016 UNISON took a delegation to Palestine and Israel to help develop its work. The delegation included members of the National Executive Council international committee and representatives of regions…”

Histadrut has always been one of the most powerful institutions within the state of Israel, and is a mainstay of the Labour Zionist movement. Aside from being a trade union, its state-building role made it the owner of a number of businesses and factories and, for a time, the largest employer in the country.

My recommended 10 titles giving the background to the struggle for Palestine with Israel are:

1. The Question of Palestine

Edward Said 1992 (Penguin/Vintage)

2. Mornings in Jenin

Susan Abulhawa 2011 (Bloomsbury)

3. The Blue between Sky and Water

Susan Abulhawa 2016 (Bloomsbury)

4. On Palestine

Noam Chomsky and Ilan Pape 2015 (Penguin)

5. The 100 Years’ War on Palestine; A History of Settler Colonial Conquest and Resistance

Rashad Khalidi 2020 (Profile Books)

6. Palestine’s Children; returning to Haifa and other stories

Ghazzan Kanafani 2000 ( Lynne Rienner Publishers Inc)

7. The Balfour Declaration - Empire, the Mandate and Resistance in Palestine.

Bernard Regan 2017 (Verso)

8. The Intifada; A Message from Three Generations of Palestinians.

No author 1998 (Sipa-Press. Gamma and Agence France Presse)

9. Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History

Nur Masalha first published in 2018 (Zed Books)

10. The General’s Son; Journey of an Israeli in Palestine with a foreword from Alice Walker

Miko Peled 2012 (World of Books)

A SELECTION OF RECOMMENDED TITLES GIVING THE BACKGROUND TO THE STRUGGLE FOR PALESTINE WITH ISRAEL