In brief: Dr. Khalil Shokeh and Maxim Sansour worked together to translate and publish a historic book on Bethlehem in Palestine. Maxim contracted Max Scott, of Nomad Publishing, and paid him a large sum of money to print 750 copies of the book. Scott took the money but only printed a handful of copies, continuously delayed publication, engaged in endless dishonesty and destroyed any chances for the book to have a proper distribution.  

The full account as told by Maxim Sansour:

Dr. Khalil Shokeh is one of Palestine’s most established historians who has over the course of four decades published numerous history books and led research projects, especially on his hometown – the historic city of Bethlehem.

Years ago, Dr. Shokeh discovered a book about Bethlehem written in 1848 by a Swiss-German explorer and academic called Titus Tobler. The book, called “Bethlehem in Palastina”, delivers a fascinating and extensive socio-economic and cultural account of the city, and its Palestinian inhabitants, during a critical period of its history under Ottoman rule.

It was widely read at the time of its publication, became an important document at the early stages of western interest in the exploration of Palestine and contributed to Tobler’s fame as a leading figure in what became known as the academic field of “Palestinology”. The book, however, eventually fell into obscurity and for over 170 years existed in German only and was hard to find.

Dr. Shokeh knew that this book was not only a historic treasure trove of information on Bethlehem but an important document to study how western perceptions and attitudes towards Palestinians were shaped by the accounts of early western explorers like Tobler. It became Dr. Shokeh’s dream to have the book translated to English and Arabic and for it to be published widely to reach relevant historians and institutions world-wide.

Maxim Sansour, also a Palestinian from Bethlehem, agreed to be a sponsor and partner in this interesting endeavor and he paid for and managed the translation of the book by Dr. Michelle Standley – a highly regarded academic specializing in the writings of German explorers in the 1800s.

When it came time to publish the book, Maxim Sansour and Khalil Shokeh chose Max Scott of Nomad Publishing for the task, only because Scott’s wife, Melissa Scott who runs the Bethlehem Cultural Festival in London, had previously highly recommended him to Dr. Shokeh.

Max Scott expressed great excitement for the project but asked Maxim Sansour to pay a large sum of money as an advance payment towards printing 750 copies of the book ahead of the book’s launch event in London. Maxim agreed and paid. Scott also promised to deliver some of the copies to Palestine ahead of a local launch event in Bethlehem.

A few days before the book’s launch in December 2022, Max Scott informed Maxim that the printers had disappointed him and that the full copies would not be ready until a few days after the launch. Instead, he printed only 10 copies for the event. What followed was a painful period of constant monthly promises by Max Scott that the book copies were imminently arriving, but that never happened. The book’s launch date on Amazon was constantly delayed for months and all momentum and possible media work on the launch was lost. The more he was challenged on his broken promises the more evident it became that Max Scott was a highly dishonest and manipulative trader who had no intention for the book to succeed.

Maxim soon made contact with a number of other authors who had published with Scott and was astonished to discover a disturbing pattern of similar experiences with several authors from the Middle East spanning more than a decade. Not wanting their prized academic book to be left in the hands of an untrustworthy publisher, Maxim decided to end the agreement with Max Scott and take the book to a different publisher. Max Scott, however, refused to let go of the book while failing to even show evidence that he ever sent it to print.

Maxim had to then resort to hiring a lawyer and after months of legal correspondence only managed to have Max Scott remove the book from his website.

The book will soon be published with another publisher.

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Please refer to previous updates on the petition, see below, for details of other reports of publishing misconduct by Max Scott or visit the Defend Middle East Authors’ Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61569955141326