The Neck and the Sword: Palestine's Unfinished Struggle

by Rashid Khalidi, Tariq Ali

A conversation between two giants of the Palestinian resistance movement about Palestine, US empire, and the future of the Middle East

A remarkable conversation between two towering activists for Palestinian liberation, Rashid Khalidi and Tariq Ali, The Sword and the Neck reflects a lifetime of political learning and experience. Long a lonely struggle, support for Palestinian liberation has swelled to an unprecedented level across the US, Europe, and beyond since 2023 as Israel continues to decimate Gaza and terrorize Palestinians in the West Bank. How did we reach this point and what future might await Palestine?

This frank and sober discussion provides an essential overview of Palestinian intellectual and political history, biting criticism of US foreign policy, and insightful contemporary geopolitical analysis. Refusing to shy away from questions that continue to inspire debate among the Palestine solidarity movement in the West, neither questions of Palestinian resistance strategy and the frailties of neighbouring Arab states are spared. This is crucial reading for anyone committed to Palestinian liberation today.

192 pages, Paperback

Expected publication October 6, 2026

About the author

Rashid Ismail Khalidi (Arabic: رشيد إسماعيل خالدي; born 18 November 1948) is a Palestinian-American historian of the Middle East and the Edward Said Professor Emeritus of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University. He served as editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies from 2002 until 2020, when he became co-editor with Sherene Seikaly.

He has authored a number of books, including The Hundred Years' War on Palestine and Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness; has served as president of the Middle East Studies Association; and has taught at the Lebanese University, the American University of Beirut, Georgetown University, and the University of Chicago.

For his work on the Middle East, Professor Khalidi has received fellowships and grants from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the American Research Center in Egypt, and the Rockefeller Foundation, among others.

In October 2010, Khalidi delivered the annual Edward Said memorial lecture at the Palestine Center in Washington. He is the Edward Said Professor Emeritus of Modern Arab Studies at Colombia University. On October 8, 2024, Khalidi retired from Columbia University citing the university's crackdown on pro-Palestinian student protests, which he had vocally supported, and the transformation of the university into a "hedge fund-cum-real estate operation, with a minor sideline in education" as reasons for his retirement.