The Destruction of Palestine Is the Destruction of the Earth - (Verso Palestine Pamphlets) by Andreas Malm (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Malm unearths the shared roots of colonial adventurism in Palestine and fossil fuelled warfare.

Israel's pulverization of Gaza since October 7, 2023 is not only a humanitarian crisis, but an environmental catastrophe. Far from the first event of its kind, the devastation Israel has inflicted on Palestine since October 2023 has merely ushered in a new phase in a long history of colonization and extraction that reaches back to the nineteenth century. In this urgent pamphlet, Andreas Malm argues that a true understanding of the present crisis requires a longue durée analysis of Palestine's subjugation to fossil empire. Returning to the British empire's first use of steam-power in war, in which it destroyed the Palestinian city of Akka, Malm traces the development of Britain's fossil empire and shows how this enduring commitment to fossil energy continues to drive Western support for the destruction of Palestine today.

Review Quotes

"Malm's analysis, which concludes with the current genocide in Gaza and Palestinian resistance against colonialism, offers a new approach towards understanding the role imperialism plays in maintaining the Zionist colonial project and one that may be overlooked due to the more immediate focus on the depletion of Palestinian territory and the Palestinian people themselves."
--Ramona Wadi, Middle East Monitor

About the Author

Andreas Malm is Associate Professor of Human Ecology at Lund University, Sweden. He is the author of several acclaimed books, most recently, with the Zetkin Collective, White Skin, Black Fuel: On the Danger of Fossil Fascism. His book How to Blow Up a Pipeline is an international bestseller and has been turned into a feature film.