ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by providing a theoretical and methodological overview of postcolonialism with an examination of the work of Edward Said by Irfan Khawaja, who probes the coherence of the arguments developed in Orientalism. Herbert S. Lewis and Gerald Steinberg provide an overview of the impact of postcolonialism on the disciplines of anthropology and peace studies. The chapter explores postcolonialism's engagement with various aspects of the Middle East conflict. Edward Said was spokesman and adherent of the Palestine Liberation Organization before it signed the Oslo Accords, displayed an apparent willingness to adopt a two-state solution to the problem of Palestine, and grant recognition to Israel as an independent state. Much postcolonialist scholarship on Palestinian and Jewish history in the land of Israel is not designed to recover the experiences of the peoples but rather to focus on gathering information to support the Palestinian case.
