Book Review – Victor Kattan’s from Coexistence to Conquest: International Law and the Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict 1891-1949 (2009)

Victor Kattan’s “From Coexistence to Conquest: International Law and the Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1891-1949” is an archival excavation of the Israeli-Palestinian (Arab-Israeli) conflict and its origins. This review will examine the contours of Kattan’s book followed by a brief examination of objectivity in academic scholarship often enunciated through the concept of ‘balance’ as it relates to those scholars (like Kattan) working on the conflict. Finally, this review will explore some of the weakness of the arguments that Kattan advances.