This incredibly researched, long book by Ilan Pappe, is useful to any activist on Palestine and also for any anti-capitalist. It explains how a minor movement became dominant arranged mainly by the capitalist elites. He shows how the Zionists, who were very much in a minority amongst Jews, used both Christian Zionists and antisemites combined to work to take over Palestine. The antisemites did not want Eastern European Jews coming into their countries.

As the British were in the process of taking over that piece of the Ottoman Empire, they mainly concentrated on them at first .They managed to get the Cabinet to agree to the Balfour Declaration, but the book shows how this was long worked for, including inside the Labour Party.

The resistance by the Palestinians to the taking of their land and water forced the British to slow the process. However in the meantime the lobby in the US was used to pressure the British. For a period the brutish British colonial activity decapitated the Palestinians. The British also trained the Zionist forces.

Great powers supported Israel

Still, after the war the Palestinians were in the clear majority in the land, but the Americans combined with the Russians to go for a UN division plan that the Zionists wanted. Israel used this as the basis for spreading outwards, thus the Nakba with the forcible removal of Palestinians.

The lobbying in the US is gone into great detail. At first, the Zionist propaganda machine said that Jews were in great danger. Huge demonstrations took place in New York, films were made, famous stars, like Marlon Brando supported the campaign. The Zionist pressure groups were particularly strong amongst the Democrats .
Similarly in the UK, the Labour government supported Israel, and figures I remember being presenfed as left wing, like Ian Mikado, were in the forefront.

The next period is of particular use helping us understand why the establishment is so against people who support Palesltine. All the major Labour figures were in Labour Friends of Israel, starting with Wilson. He was a virulent Zionist, even after he left office, so nothing could get past him. Nevertheless mass support for Palestine started to grow after 1967, and the occupation of the West Bank.

Blair was a member of LFI from his joining the LP.

Bi-partisan support for Zionists

In the US the newly developed, and ever changing lobbying organisations realised the key was the Congress representatives and the senators. So they financed them, and made sure they got their votes. At first they concentrated on the Democrats. Although never stopping that, they realised the Republicans were their natural allies.
The book shows how an ever growing support for Palestine, has little political influence in the institutions. The media is controlled by the super rich so there is hardly any official political representation of the Palestinian cause. Today repression against the solidarity movement is rampant.

Both parties back the Israeli government. Clinton supported Israel, Obama gave them the biggest arms deal they had up to that point.

This section of the book is well worth a read as to how the lobby groups worked in the US
In the UK we have seen how the mass support, even of Labour Party members did not stop the expulsion of strong anti-Zionist voices. The Labour government has introduced draconian laws and continued to arm Israel,
Again, even though we have lived through this it is worth reading how the lobby worked , and how it became so deep rooted.