In The Iron Cage, historian Rashid Khalidi asks why the Palestinians have failed to achieve statehood over the course of the twentieth century.

Khalidi examines the external obstacles – British colonial policy, Zionist power, US support for Israel and the hostility of Arab states – as well as the failures of the Palestinian leadership, from the notables of the Mandate era to the PLO and the Palestinian Authority. He shows how Palestinians were trapped in an “iron cage” that prevented them from building the institutions of a state, and draws lessons for the future.