In The United States and the Palestinians, Palestinian political scientist Mohammed K. Shadid examines American policy towards the Palestinian people from the First World War to the Camp David Accords of 1978.

Shadid shows how successive US administrations treated Palestinians mainly as a refugee problem rather than a people with national rights, how domestic politics and strategic interests shaped support for Israel, and how the US refused to deal with the PLO. He argues that a just peace requires recognising Palestinian self-determination.