It’s one of the oddest phenomena of our extraordinarily odd age: the “Palestinian people” are clamoring for freedom and an end to what they claim is an unlawful Israeli occupation of their historic land. Yet search through the history of nations and peoples, and you won’t find any “Palestinian people” at all. Not one mention of such a nation, or such a nationality, until quite recent times.

So who invented the “Palestinians,” and why? And how have these people managed to convince the world that such a people not only exists, but always has existed, and deserves billions of dollars in aid and the avid support of global organizations, as well as the indefatigable sympathy of the international media, no matter what atrocities this newly-minted people commit?

Find out in The Palestinian Delusion: The Catastrophic History of the Middle East Peace Process, a comprehensive guidebook that makes sense of a problem that has vexed the world for seven decades. Preorder it here.