INTRODUCTION people, ought to accept permanent colonialization by Israel, or why it supposes that Palestinians are not going to fight indefinitely to regain their denied, usurped, or crushed nation­ al rights {as they have been fighting in every Middle East crisis)— these are questions that this book attempts to pose, and answer, given the almost astonishingly turbulent changes at present occurring in the M iddle East. I would hope, too, that in my concluding chapter the reader will find discussed a fair analysis o f those immediate political issues governing the present post-Cam p David Middle East, U .S . policy, A rab and regional politics, and Palestinian positions and attitudes. I have not found this book easy to write. A great deal o f it derives from study o f and reflection on the meaning o f modern Palestinian history. A lot o f this book, how ever, arises from an active participation in the often discouraging quest for Pales­ tinian self-determination, a quest (in my case, at least) led while in exile. Inevitably J have been strongly put upon by daily events, by news and sudden changes, by chance discus­ sions, and even more by erratic illumination. I doubt that I have escaped the influence o f these things, which it would be wrong in any case to escape com pletely. But I have been conscious o f trying to present more than a summary of recent history, or a prediction o f tom orrow ’s developm ents. M y hope is to have made clear the Palestinian interpretation o f Palest­ inian experience, and to have shown the relevance o f both to the contemporary political scene. T o explain one’s sense of oneself as a Palestinian in this way is to feel em battled. T o the W est, which is where I live, to be a Palestinian is in political terms to be an outlaw o f sorts, or at any rate very much an outsider. But that is a reality, and I mention it only as a w'ay of indicating the peculiar loneliness of my undertaking in this book. I am grateful to D ebbie Rogers, Asm a K hauw ly, and Paul Lipari for their help in preparing the manuscript. O ver the years I have benefited from many discussions with fellow Palestinians who, like myself, have struggled to understand our situation as a people. G ood friends in this country, in Israel,