The Question of Palestine
Edward W. Said
Said's foundational political essay placed the Palestinian experience at the center of modern history and demanded that Palestinians be heard as a people, not a problem.
Published in 1979, The Question of Palestine was the first major work to present the Palestinian case to a Western readership in its own terms. Said traces the fatal collision between Zionism and the indigenous population of Palestine, arguing that the conflict is not an ancient religious feud but a modern political question of dispossession and denied self-determination. He writes with equal force about the “web of racism, cultural stereotypes, political imperialism” through which Palestinians had been rendered invisible in the West.
The book remains startlingly current: its account of how Palestinians came to be treated as an obstacle to someone else’s redemption still frames much of the debate today. A 1992 Vintage edition added a new introduction and epilogue assessing the intifada and the run-up to Oslo.
About the author
Edward W. Said (1935–2003) was born in Jerusalem and became one of the most influential public intellectuals of his era — a professor of literature at Columbia University, a founder of postcolonial studies, and an unwavering advocate for Palestinian rights. He served on the Palestinian National Council and wrote extensively for both academic and general audiences.
Details
- Originally published by Times Books, New York, 1979
- Vintage Books edition, 1992, with new introduction and epilogue
- ISBN 0-679-73988-2 (Vintage edition)
Connected in the archive
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named in this record — 2 records
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- Edward W. Saidإدوارد سعيد
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Edward W. Said (1935–2003) was born in Jerusalem and became one of the most influential public intellectuals of his era — a professor of literature at Columbia University, a founder of postcolonial studies, and an unwavering advocate for Palestinian rights.
- Jerusalemالقدس
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Said (1935–2003) was born in Jerusalem and became one of the most influential public intellectuals of his era — a professor of literature at Columbia University, a founder of postcolonial studies, and an unwavering advocate for Palestinian rights.
names this record — 1 record
One record names the other. A pointer for reading, not a claim that they belong to each other.
- Edward Said: The Question of Palestine
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Edward Said’s The Question of Palestine (1979) is a foundational text in modern Palestinian intellectual history.
on a related subject — 7 records
Filed near each other — the same Mandate district, or the same uncommon subject tags.
- A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Shared tag: "settler colonialism".
- After the Last Sky: Palestinian Lives
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Shared tag: "edward said".
- Fayez Sayeghفايز صايغ
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Shared tag: "settler colonialism".
- Orientalism
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Shared tag: "edward said".
- Ten Myths About Israel
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Shared tag: "zionism".
- The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Shared tag: "settler colonialism".
- and 1 more
Cite this page
Every claim above carries its sources — citation is the point.
- Chicago
“The Question of Palestine.” Library, FALASTEEN.AI. Accessed 22 August 2026. https://falasteen.ai/library/the-question-of-palestine/.- MLA
“The Question of Palestine.” Library, FALASTEEN.AI, 2026, https://falasteen.ai/library/the-question-of-palestine/. Accessed 22 August 2026.- BibTeX
@misc{falasteen-the-question-of-palestine, title = {The Question of Palestine}, howpublished = {\url{https://falasteen.ai/library/the-question-of-palestine/}}, organization = {FALASTEEN.AI — A Living Archive for Palestine}, year = {2026}, note = {Accessed 2026-08-22} }