The brutal Anglo-Zionist repression of the great Arab Revolt of β39 was followed by the Nakba of , the Six-Day War in , the siege of Beirut, led by Ariel Sharon, and the massacres of Sabra and Shatila, the two Intifadas, the continuous raining down of terror by Israel since then.
Yet the post-October 7 genocide seems to have had a bigger global impact than any of these. Yes, something has shifted globally. But this has been the first genocide that a generation has witnessed in real time, on their devices. Was it the first in recent times in which the us , Britain and Western powers were direct participants, unlike others, in Sudan or Myanmar?
Did the work of pro-Palestinian advocates over a generation or more prepare people for this? But you are right that as a result of the horrors that have been inflicted on Gaza over eight continuous months, and which are still being inflicted now, something new has happened.
The displacement of three quarters of a million people in did not produce the same impact. The β39 Arab Revolt is almost completely forgotten. None of those earlier events had anything like this effect.
The Arab Revolt has always fascinated me as one of the major episodes of anti-colonial struggle, which has had far less attention than it deserves. It began as a strike, became a series of strikes, then developed into a huge national uprising which had British forces tied down for over three years. Could you give us an explanation of its origins, development and consequences? The Arab Revolt was essentially a popular uprising, on a massive scale.
