About the book

How did it come about?

This book was born in a talk the author gave to his 14 year-old grandson who wanted to know the background to what was happening in Gaza. It took about an hour and covered the period from the 1880s to the start of this century. Shortly afterwards he did the same thing for a friend in her early 60s. Shortly after that, he began writing.

The book which emerged sets out to explain the essentials of the Palestine-Israel conflict. It is particularly aimed at readers in societies like the UK where these basics are either incompletely known, or misunderstood, or both. 

At its core, then, this book is a simple history, one which is centred always on Palestine and its people.  Across five chapters it looks at the birth of the problem, the colonisation process and its consequences for Palestinians, their response, and the main events since the creation of Israel.

What is the gap this book is trying to fill?

There are plenty of books on this subject, but they can be dense, wordy - and long. By contrast, A History Of Palestine In Five Fruits is a concise and very readable account. Its stripped-down approach dispels the idea that the conflict is ‘complicated’, tangled, a struggle to understand: it tries to break down some of the myths which cluster around the issue.

As well as being a short book, it is written in a very accessible way. This is an easy read and a page-turner.

Is there anything else that makes the book different?

Yes. Its author believes that, in addition to responding intellectually to the question of Palestine - using facts and arguments - we are also people whose feelings are engaged as well. And they should be: after all, we are moral beings, with values. We love, we care, we want to make the world a better place.

The book therefore has a structure which brings these responses - thinking and feeling - together. So, running along parallel to the history there is a second strand which adds detail and colour to the picture, its starting points provided by the ‘five fruits’ of the title. These sections - one in each chapter - are dealing with the same themes as the history but they ‘zoom in’, adding specifics and a sense of place.

They also provide an emotional dimension to the story.

These two aspects of the book contrast with one another. The history parts read like conventional prose, and they’re set out normally, like this.

The fruit sections use a different tone of voice:
one which is more personal,
which is rhythmic
and lyrical.

And they are set out differently.
Like this.

What are the author’s qualifications?

Ian Wellens began to read and think about Palestine around 2007-8 and, by his own admission, has never stopped He therefore has a long-term engagement with the subject.

As a writer, he is the author of a conventional academic book which can be found in University libraries all around the world. In addition, though, he has worked as both a furniture designer-maker and composer. All of this experience - the academic and the artistic - has been drawn on to create this book, a bespoke creation which seemed to be what the subject - and the situation - demanded.

When will the book be published, and how can I buy one?

The book should be available in early 2026, published by Annea Press. It will be available through this website, but hopefully much more widely.

To register an interest and to be kept in touch with progress, please email info@anneapress.com