by Noura Erakat and John Reynolds
Haymarket Books
11/10/2026, paperback
SKU: 9798888907429
Drawing on the history of global anticolonial movements and a rich Palestinian intellectual tradition, two leading legal scholars demonstrate that justice in Palestine cannot be realized without confronting the problem of Zionism
For over one hundred years, Palestinians have struggled for liberation in their homeland. Confronting Zionism takes direct analytical aim at the ideology and institutional structures animating Israel's brutal rule over Palestinian lives.
With cutting precision and comprehensive evidence, Noura Erakat and John Reynolds argue that Zionism is colonial and racist in essence and practice. Tracing the history of the Zionist project, the establishment of the Israeli settler colonial state and development of its apartheid laws and institutions--plus the damning failure of diplomatic efforts, including the Oslo peace process--this book provides the concepts and tools for understanding the horrors unfolding in Palestine today.
Erakat and Reynolds also provide a clear-eyed assessment of the role of international law, in a world where its relevance is increasingly in question. Taking lessons from ongoing inequalities in South Africa as well as anticolonial and socialist policies across the global south, Confronting Zionism argues that at this crucial historical juncture, decolonization in Palestine predicated on redistribution, reparations and refugee return remains the only just way forward.
Reviews:
"Using South Africa and Tanzania as examples, Erakat and Reynolds propose new models of decolonization, requiring return, reparations, and redistribution of wealth accumulated under Zionism, noting that the presence of settlers is less of a problem than the persistence of a settler colonial mindset. An eye-opening and thought-provoking read." -- Booklist, Starred Review
"With international recognition of a subservient state of Palestine and the resuscitation of normalization efforts with Israel amid an ongoing genocide, this powerful book by Noura Erakat and John Reynolds offers the clarity that we all need to confront and dismantle Zionism and settler colonialism everywhere. Rather than liberal human rights and international law frameworks that domesticate Palestine, this precise and unapologetic opus definitively argues that the struggle for Palestinian liberation is an anti-=colonial, anticapitalist, global struggle that liberates us all. This book is a must-read for this pivotal time against colonial fascism." -- Harsha Walia
"As a Palestinian academic from Gaza, I read Confronting Zionism with the feeling that the authors were putting into words much of what Palestinians have long known through experience. Noura Erakat and John Reynolds place Palestinian thinkers and lived experience at the centre of their account, rather than treating Palestinians as a case to be explained by others. They're also honest about what international law can and can't do. The book doesn't stop at describing injustice; it asks what return and repair would look like in practice. I hope it reaches readers well beyond those already familiar with Palestine." -- Ahmed Kamal Junina
About the Contributors:
Noura Erakat is Professor of Africana Studies and Criminal Justice at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. She is the author of Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine, which received the Palestine Book Award and the Bronze Medal for the Independent Publishers Book Award in Current Events/Foreign Affairs. She is a co-founding editor of Jadaliyya and an editorial board member of the Journal of Palestine Studies. Erakat has served as legal counsel for a Congressional subcommittee in the US House of Representatives, and as legal advocate for the Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Refugee and Residency Rights. Noura has also produced video documentaries, including "Gaza In Context" and "Black Palestinian Solidarity." She is a frequent commentator in television, print, and radio media.
John Reynolds is Associate Professor of Law at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. His research and writing focuses on the relationships between international law and colonialism, racism/apartheid and political economy. He is the author of the award-winning Empire, Emergency and International Law and a member of the editorial collective of the Third World Approaches to International Law Review journal.