5 comments about The Much Too Promised Land: America's Elusive Search for Arab-Israeli Peace.

1. I feel that this title is quite appropriate for this work. I found Aaron Miller's book to be a forthright and honest attempt at a historical analysis. What I found so refreshing though was the author's level of honesty. It is hard enough to find books that attempt a balanced view of these issues without adding to it the fact that the writer was very much an active participant in the very history they are attempting to analyze. I felt as if there were no attempt to whitewash or to put a better face on his or the US's role in this history, and so that makes this a very important book. While I may not always agree with his analysis, this disagreement is due to my interpreting the facts differently rather than over how the author has laid out the facts.
   
   The book has a colloquial and anecdotal style that I normally cannot stand, but I think Miller did an excellent job mixing the anecdotal with the scholarly. I didn't find that the style detracted from the substance at all which is the usual problem I have with such works. Instead the style gives the reader a greater feel for how diplomacy works. The interviews and anecdotes bring US diplomacy down from the ethereal plains back down to the human level. Readers get the opportunity to see just how difficult these negotiations really are. It isn't this abstract chess board were large pieces are moved, but rather it is on the personal level where participants thrash out differences face to face. One gets to see just how much personalities play in diplomacy, and we get to see that this diplomacy is the work of hundreds of people and it evolves over time. Today's failure may be the ground work for tomorrow's breakthrough.
   
   I really liked his look into the role of pro-Israel lobbying groups in the US. I think his analysis is very important. These lobbyists are neither all-powerful hands guiding US policy but neither are they completely benign. They are nothing nefarious though. These groups are doing nothing but using the US system to advocate for their policies. This is perfectly legal, and it is essentially the American way of doing politics. My only problem is that I feel these groups have a certain negative impact on US policy in that they have the affect of making the Israeli perspective the default position of US governments. This does affect our balance, and our ability to be honest arbiters in this conflict. This doesn't mean that the US policy can't be affective or that it is forever tilted to the Israelis, but it does mean that more often than not the US is looking at any problems that arise from the Israeli viewpoint rather than from a balanced perspective. The author explains this very well, and also shows how this tilt towards Israel can have benefits as well.
   
   My one fundamental disagreement with this author's analysis is on the Camp David summit under Clinton. The author asserts that the US's unpreparedness was not a critical error that ensured the failure of these negotiations. The author explains that there were still huge gaps between the two sides along with big problems with trust between the sides and constituencies in Israel and the Arab world. While all of this is true, and the possibility of getting substantive agreements from both sides was remote, the fact that the US was unprepared and scrambling during these talks ensured that the two sides would fail to bridge the gap. The US gave too much deference to Israeli political constraints and this sullied the US negotiators from the outset. The US team should have come into these talks armed with a working paper that would have had both sides screaming and threatening to walk out, but instead they allowed the Israelis to have a hand in the drafting of the US starting position. In the end these talks were probably doomed to failure before they ever began, but the US team ensured that failure by not being prepared. Both the Israelis and Palestinians needed a tough and robust arbiter at Camp David to push, cajole and extort the two sides into bridging gaps instead they were largely lead by unfolding events.
   
   All in all this is a great book that will inform all readers. The author takes a very balanced approach that offers readers a valuable perspective. I highly recommend this work.



2. There several missing points in this book, which, nevertheless, is very interesting and professional.
   Starting in 1948 from very first day of recreation of the State of Israel on the part of Israel territory, Arab countries waged several wars to eliminate Israel from her historic land. Israel won all wars and now Arab countries propose a peace agreement with Israel under conditions, which they intended to dictate. However, only Israel, who won all the wars and defeated Arab countries, has legal rights to formulate and dictate peace agreement terms and conditions, which, in general, shell include the following provisions:
   1. Palestinian Muslims must compensate Jews for damages caused by Jews massacres (actually, it was Holocaust) conducted in Palestine in 1920s-1930s under British administration supervision, for providing Hitler with idea of Final Solution and for taking active part in implementing the idea in Europe.
   2. Arab countries must compensate Israel for damages inflicted on Israel during wars launched by Arab countries.
   3. Arab countries must compensate several million Jews expelled from Arab countries between 1948 and 1953, where they lived for centuries, for violation of international law and stilling Jewish properties.
   4. Arab countries must recognize "Article 24 of the 1964 PLO charter addressed to UN, which stipulates: Palestinian Muslims do not claim Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and Gaza their territories", which gives Israel full legal rights to remove Muslims from occupied Israel land of Palestine.
   5. Arab countries must comply with Geneva Convention, which recognizes Israel rights on Gaza, Judea and Samaria, historic Jewish land liberated by Israel in 1967 war from Jordan and Egypt occupation.
   6. Arab countries must recognize Jerusalem as historic Israel capital.



3. The author has been very involved in the Arab-Israeli peace process through the administration of various US presidents. He is able to tell a fairly non-partisan tale of the good and the bad of presidents from Nixon to Bush Jr. This detailed personal knowledge of the peace process players is also the book's downfall. There is too much information about the people, personal relationships and negotiating conditions. At times it drifts in to minutia of the author's experience that would be more appropriate in a personal memoir than in the general history it purports to be.



4. By way of Bar Illan's University and the Middle East Quarterly, Gerald M. Steinberg pronounced himself on Aaron David Miller, a key player on the U.S. "peace team" during three administrations, Miller is well-placed to compare and evaluate the different approaches, personalities, and outcomes of the efforts of these three U.S. administrations. The author adds to the flood of memoirs, often covering the same ground--the embrace of Palestinian victimization; surprise at Arafat's treachery; Jimmy Carter's doctored accounts. Ultimately, the main contribution of this book lies in its illumination of the perceptions and misperceptions emanating from Washington.
   
   The most substantive sections cover the 1989 to 1992 period, which started and ended with U.S. pressure on Israel, though interrupted by the 1991 Kuwait war. In this phase, Secretary of State James Baker and his colleagues used the threat of blame for failure ("the dead cat on the doorstep" model) to press Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Shamir for concessions. The attempt did little other than increase tensions between Washington and Jerusalem.
   
   The collapse of the Soviet Union and the U.S. invasion of Iraq amplified Washington's power of persuasion--saying "no" to Washington became more costly. After months of pressure, Shamir, Syrian president Hafez al-Assad, and a thinly disguised Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) delegation agreed to the 1991 Madrid conference. But the investment produced little more than a photo-op. The bilateral talks that followed simply regurgitated old slogans while multilateral efforts designed to promote visible cooperation between Israel and the major Arab countries were ignored--as they are in Miller's history.
   
   However, the pressure eventually produced the Oslo experiment, which ended seven years later in a mass terror campaign and the Israeli response to it. One of the main causes of this failure was (as Miller shows indirectly) the top-down process that relied too heavily on PLO chairman Yasser Arafat. On the Palestinian street, no effort was made to challenge the core mythologies centered on refugee claims, Jerusalem, and (crucially) on the rejection of Israel's right to exist. In contrast, as terrorism grew, Israel's hyperactive democracy lost any initial enthusiasm for risk-taking--another aspect of the so-called peace process that is missing in Miller's version of events.
   
   Eight years later, as the Obama team tries again, it might consider Miller's contribution to the literature of failure--concentrating, perhaps, not so much on what he has included in his book but on what he has left out.



5. This book is an absolute must-read for those interested in the Middle East, specifically the Arab-Israeli conflict. Miller's analysis is deep and thorough and his honesty about the successes and failures (including his own) of the peace process is incredibly refreshing. Miller is upfront about his own leanings, but presents a book that is admirably well-balanced. On top of it all, Miller's writing style and anecdotes make the book quite enjoyable to read. You couldn't go wrong with this source on the Arab-Israeli conflict.

5 comments about Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-2001.

1. Not at all even handed. Morris makes sweeping statements about what an entire group of people were thinking or feeling based on antidotal evidence at best. Anyone looking to this book to educate themselves about the history of the region should also know that the author has since recanted much of the editorializing he did in these pages. Besides being misleading, it's dense, boring and long. I recommend it only in lieu of a sleeping pill. Look for my copy on the "used books" shelf.



2. This is encyclopedic review and a detailed chronicle of the events surrounding the birth of nation of Israel, first as a homeland for the disposessed and decimated Jewish masses and then eventually as a colonizing military regional superpower. It is extremely detailed and well researched. Facts and salient information is presented without much fanware and distracting analysis. I chanced upon this jewel as it was a textbook for a course on this topic at my son's college.
   
   The only shortcoming is that it ends a little short. Another print should have been attempted covering the all important Camp David talks in much more detail, rise of Sharon and Hamas, passing of Arafat, and bloody Lebanon and Gaza invasions.
   
   Revealed facts and testimony removes the veil from much of the mythology and propaganda that both sides have been busily fabricating. The Israeli author obviously has more access to the Israeli side of the events.
   
   There are very few innocents in this tragedy, but clearly, there is a lot more of their blood on the Israeli hands.



3. Benny Morris, has found fame because he has chosen to betray the truth, and embrace the lies of the Arab League, the PLO, and Hamas so he can sell more books, and get more money. The fact he is a "renegade" of sorts is what sells his trash. I think anyone looking for the truth behind Benny Morris should read Efraim Karsh's essays and book "Fabricating Israeli History." Morris basically dedicates his book to omitting key phrases from key people, taking things out of context, and overall distortion. Benny Morris is basically sealing the fate of the Jewish state with this kind of trash he writes.



4. Fantastic book. Written by a natvie born Jewish/Israel citizen, History professor. Anyone interested in the Middle East problems should read this. A real shame our political leaders have not read.



5. Benny Morris makes history come alive, and provides facts and new insights as time goes by. He researches exhaustively, and it not afraid to modify his views and conclusions in light of new facts, experience, and just because time has a way of modifying one's preliminary conclustions.
   
   Amazon makes it possible to amass a huge library on a given subject without spending all of one's discretionary budget.

5 comments about A State Beyond the Pale: Europe's Problem with Israel.

1. The war against the Jews has two fronts, one in the Middle East which is the scene of terrorism and the other in the media where a battle for minds takes place. Israel is well capable of defending itself physically but has not done so well in the other war as Stephanie Gutmann wrote some years ago. Openly antisemitic hostility towards Israel is common throughout the Arab world; spread through mosques, madrassas and the internet. This propaganda has infected the entire Islamic world, including Europe where Muslim numbers and influence are increasing. This demographic factor is expertly dissected by Rafael Israeli in his book on Elemental and Residual Anti-Semitism.
   
   Here, Robin Shepherd examines the crucial battle of ideas between non-Muslim westerners that Israel is losing. He documents and analyses in meticulous detail the expanding scope and influence of the enmity towards Israel among European opinion-formers. During the past decades this animosity has spread from the far left to the mainstream liberal-left as Bernard Harrison reveals in The Resurgence of Anti-Semitism and Manfred Gerstenfeld in Behind The Humanitarian Mask with reference to Scandinavia. Major UK media like The Guardian, Independent and BBC are at the forefront while on the continent recent examples were provided by the Swedish paper Aftonbladet and the Spanish El Mundo.
   
   Shepherd identifies the cause as Europe's civilizational exhaustion and its symptoms like the post-Holocaust guilt complex, embrace of pacifism, appeasement and relativism. The World Wars and the continent's murderous salvationist ideologies have made the intelligentsia reject all frameworks like nationalism or religion. As Chantal Delsol observes, a morality of complacency has deprived Europe of a system of ethics whilst promoting self-interest and subjectivity. The far left and to a lesser degree the liberal-left hate many things but don't have any rational vision.
   
   Shepherd's examples of the crude demonization of Israel correspond exactly with the analyses of Delsol and Harrison. Emotion & indignation have become the preferred channels for a morality which is usually negatively defined. Artists and intellectuals in particular, express an odd form of piety in hysterical fits of morality of which the relativism, rage and selectivity betray it as fatuous posturing. It is demonstrably contradictory in the manner it clings to moral absolutes whilst affirming the universality of relativism. Delsol considers it an empty morality of despair and withdrawal.
   
   Caroline Glick, Bruce Bawer & Claire Berlinski share the opinion that European elites have rejected the lessons of the Holocaust. The simplistic fallacies that nationalism is the ultimate evil and that war is never justified are distortions of reality. Nationalism is a neutral concept that must be judged by the way it is expressed. Pacifism permits evil to flourish; it is neither pious nor benevolent as it denies justice and holds it in contempt. The collapse of the USSR pushed the Left over the edge and was the main reason that it embraced postmodernism & multiculturalism.
   
   These evil philosophies are behind Europe's refusal to defend the rule of law and other Western values. European elites deny the reality of Islamist terrorism whereas Israel has no choice but to confront it. The fad of Moral Relativism is not applied to both sides; it is used for justifying suicide/homicide bombings but never to the measures taken by Israel to defend itself. The far left's hatred of Israel and the USA has made it an ally of radical Islamism despite the ideological chasm between them. Jamie Glazov explains this alliance with great insight in his book United in Hate.
   
   In the war of ideas, academia is the source & the mass media the disseminator of anti-Western pieties du jour of which the seeming benevolence masks a profound self-loathing. The double standards of "human rights" organizations and trade unions are breathtaking. Shepherd does not think that Western anti-Zionism is rooted in the old antisemitism but that the vitriolic hatred of Israel signify a new strain of the mental disease. In his taxonomy of antisemitism, he divides it into 'subjective' and 'objective' forms. Subjective antisemites hate Israel and everything Jewish whilst the objective types centre on the "object of attack" where perpetrators do not hate Jews but adopt the same insane ideas as genuine antisemites.
   
   The last chapter, Contagion: Is America Next? investigates why the quality of Middle Eastern discourse in the USA has not deteriorated to the same low level as in Europe. He warns however, with reference to Wart and Smearsheimer, that it could happen. In this regard it's important to consider Andre Glucksmann's theory that a contagion of hatred must be taken literally as a mental disorder that invades minds, bodies and society. Immune to reason, such an outbreak inoculates itself against opposing thoughts.
   
   Shepherd's valuable book ought to be read with Denis MacShane's Globalising Hatred that highlights the spread of the plague as a factor in international politics with important geostrategic implications. MacShane also points out how little attention is paid in the West to the Islamic sphere's open antisemitism which is promoted by state media and forms part of the charters of Hamas & Hezbollah. Authors like Nonie Darwish, Brigitte Gabriel and Phyllis Chesler have been trying to raise awareness of the phenomenon for years. Now it's becoming acceptable in parts of the West.
   
   It is incumbent upon friends of Israel to counteract this descent into madness. Shepherd's is not the first warning; in the 1990s Alan Dershowitz, William F Buckley and William Nicholls amongst others, saw it coming, while more recently Oriana Fallaci, Bat Ye'or, David Horowitz, Melanie Phillips, Gabriel Schoenfeld, Abraham Foxman, Dennis Prager, Nick Cohen, Walter Laqueur and David Solway have sounded the alarm. This time the Jewish people must not be abandoned to fight the battle on their own. As for the how of it, the best book by far is The Dawn: Political Teachings of the Book of Esther by Yoram Hazony.



2. A State Beyond the Pale is a must read for anyone who cares about the State of Israel, is concerned about antisemitism and injustice and people who care about the role of the media in free societies.Unlike other books defending Israel, this insightful study by Robin Shepherd allows the facts to speak for themselves. He lets Israel's critics indict themselves by their words and actions. This method of analysis makes Shepherd's work one of the most compelling studies of how Israel has gone in Europe from ally to fiend in a short period of time.
   
   Along with being rich in analysis, this book is beautifully written. Shepherd has an expert eye for the quote and the fact that is central to understanding the big picture. Shepherd clearly knows his subject matter inside and out. And he knows how to present his arguments and conclusions.
   
   I highly recommend that anyone interested in the future of Israel read this book.



3. The book is dedicated to modern European anti-Semitism. Authors gives names of organizations, such as BBC, and individuals, mostly BBC and other British media reporters, who are responsible for pathologically deceitful and anti-Semitic publications targeting Israel existence and lives of Israelis and Jews around the world. The author analyzes anti-Semitism of Europeans from various angles in attempt to find a logical explanation in muslims overpopulation in Europe, in other words, in European cowardice. However, if we look at this problem from historic perspective, the answer is simple: Frenchmen and British are genetic anti-Semites and coward, others are just coward and profoundly ignorant in ME history. I highly recommend everybody to read this book.



4. As a person who cares deeply about ISrael and has read many, many books on the subject, I was astounded by this book. Shepperd slices through the duplicity associated with today's media and leftist discourse concerning ISrael like a skilled surgeon. He exposes the lies, double standards and slander for what they are; thinly veiled Jew hatred..and he backs it up with impeccable logic. The fact that he is a non-jew (not that that should matter) only adds to his credibility.



5. No doubt the best book on Israel I have read in a long time. This short but readable book by Robin Shepard, Director of International Affairs of the Henry Jackson Society in the UK, has cut through the misinformation, anti-israeli propaganda, and outright antisemitism, to pinpoint a real problem facing Western Europe concerning it's relationship with Israel. Alarmed by the rapid resurgence of both antisemitism and anti-Israel behavior on the part of the EU, and meant as an advanced warning to both the EU and the United States, the author examines the root causes of western Europe's quickly intensifying irrational prejudice against the state of Israel, the accompanying rise of antisemitism among Europeans, and the rising need to accommodate totalitarian governments in the Middle East. His conclusions make a lot of sense and has clarified my own confusion about what is causing this behavior that is a severe threat to liberal democracy in Europe and the US. Comments posted here by 'Adama' and 'Pieter' are accurate and worth reading. Do your political representatives a favor and buy theme a copy of this book.

5 comments about The Case for Israel.

1. This book is great not only because of how well it is written, but this book busts all the common myths you've probably heard about Israel on the internet, and TV media, especially if you live outside the US, where guilt for Muslims clouds the truth about Israel, and its aggressive neighbors and the terror citizens face each day simply for being Jewish, and not wanting to be part of a global caliphate. A must have, as most Palestinian apologists have the hateful talking points of their own in their minds as if they were anything close to resembling fact.



2. If you are willing to read more than 200 pages of Israeli apologetics based on nothing more than the writer's biased opinion without resort to historical fact or reason, then go ahead and read this book. For the more intelligent folks out there, do a bit more research on the author and his biases (read financial interests) before you waste $10.



3. This book may seem interesting on the surface, but check his sources. A main source is the Saudi Ambassador to the US. That would be akin to "A Defense of the Soveiet Union" and using the cuban ambassador to a country as your main source.
   
   Not much more to add, but this book is very, very weak.



4. This book should be required reading for history classes in high school and at universities. Most major allegations against Israel are refuted by solid, historical fact. You don't need to be Jewish to understand the compelling need for this book and its ability to debunk the many negative myths that are associated with Israel.



5. We never read these types of books in more than a cursory way.
   
   With that said, this type of anti-Israel stuff that goes on today
   was unthinkable when i was a child. It's sheer madness to side with the
   hordes of Anti-Jewish and Anti-Christian Islamic Extremists.
   
   As an illustration, let's assume we are on a airliner.
   
   The Jewish person is most likely to be behind the on-flight
   Movie.
   
   The Christian beside you is talking when you want to sleep.
   
   And the Arab is trying to blow the plane out of the sky.
   Or saying non-seniscal prayers in order to test the planes
   security and safety measures.
   
   Let's not fall under a "strong delusion" about the state of our world.
   
   As a Christian it is my belief that Israel is very important to God himself.
   I realize not all Muslims are bad people , and in many cases I admire their
   stands of morality and decency. But America's foreign policy must include
   Israel as an Ally, or we are more or less placing bets in a Trojan horse race!

5 comments about Israel's Secret Wars: A History of Israel's Intelligence Services.

1. Just started reading and since it is a large book, it will be awhile before it is completed.



2. I bought this for a friend of mine and he said that is very good.



3. In Israel's Secret Wars Ian Black and Benny Morris explore the "secret" wars Israel fought against its Arab and Palestinian foes from the pre-state institutions of the Yishuv to 1990. They begin with the earliest manifestations of an intelligence service in the attempts of the Jewish Agency's Arab Department, following the Arab revolt of the 1930s, to keep files on Arab affairs. These note cards stored in a file cabinets became the cornerstone of Israel's espionage industry. With the founding of the state, Black and Morris take us through the evolution of these cards into the Mossad (the equivalent of the CIA) and the Shin Bet (roughly equivalent to the FBI) and their challenges in the Sinai Campaign of 1956, the Six Days War of 1967, occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, the Yom Kippur War of 1973, the struggle against Palestinian terrorism in the 1970s, both in Israel and abroad, and the Intifada in the late 80s. The book is seemingly exhaustive in its use of available sources, is well written and generally non-judgmental, keeping its conclusions close to the "facts." Overall it is the kind of scholarship we have come to expect from a first class historian like Benny Morris.



4. An excellent history of Israel's Intelligence Services; this book really holds your interest. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in this subject.



5. As someone who's enthralled with the world of intelligence, this book really made me happy. I found it to be very impartial politically, although it dealt exclusively with Israeli matters in historical order(it did not, for example, go into detail about Syrian leadership, Egyptian intelligence, or US-Israel relations). There was far more information in the book than I thought I'd encounter (the authors preface the book with their own surprise at the amount of information they were allowed to obtain and then publish), and the book depicts well the selection, work hazards, and retirement of typical spies. The book chronicles the importance of intelligence through Israel's great successes (and failures) in the military and civil spheres, and does so with style and historical accuracy. The only drawback is the book's date (published in the early 90s).

5 comments about Palestine.

1. Palestine puts a very human face on the ongoing tragedy of the people living in their own country, specifically those areas that have not been claimed by Israel. It's not about who's right or wrong, it's about how to deal with the challenge of simply living under very difficult, often fatal, circumstances. There's a sad parallel with the situation faced by native Americans, where even self-imposed exile failed to accommodate the intrusive settlements.



2. I ordered the book for a class and didn't want to pay a lot. It got here in time and is in great condition. You would never know it was a used copy.



3. Starting with a typical attitude of "Who cares?" Sacco shows us how his visit to the West Bank and Gaza in the early 1990s transformed him completely. Palestinians have much against them in today's world, not least the stereotypes of "supporting terror" etc, etc that the Israeli propaganda machine heaps on them every day. These stereotypes create a formidable barrier between the Palestinian people and Americans. Americans do not feel like they should even pay attention to these "insignificant terrorists" - and that is precisely the goal of the propagandists in the first place: to silence the Palestinians and prevent their very humanity (let alone their message) from being recognized.
   
   Enter Joe Sacco! With master strokes of a cartoonist's pencil, he succeeds Single-handedly in shattering those barriers. For the first time in an American publication, you actually see Palestinians as people, you enter their households, you talk to them, you listen to their problems, and you think about it. Well, so what?
   
   If you always thought that the middle east problem is "too complicated" or "has been going on for too long" to be able to understand it, it is time to get out your credit card and buy this book now. In the most enjoyable cartoon style that makes it hard for you to let go of the book, you will see things like you've never witnessed them before. This is the raw human story, not the clinically sterilized CNN version of events, or the dry history book polemics. I guarantee that after reading Sacco's Palestine, something will click and you will finally understand what's been going on, more clearly than you ever have before.



4. If you know absolutely nothing about where all the trouble began then this is a must read. Sacco is incredibly good at breaking complexities down; not only making them understandable but making it personal. You would think that 'graphic literature' would allow you to remain safely detached from the illustrated events but Mr Sacco's offerings have quite the opposite effect. It is impossible to properly describe the experience; bit like taking a picture of the Grand Canyon instead of standing on the lip of a thousand foot precipice. Once you're read one you'll be hooked, addicted; one won't be enough.



5. I got to know Joe Sacco's work only lately, though I know the subject personally from birth. I was born in Israel and grew up there, in a family that has always fought for a bi-national state. even as a child I was participating in demos for equal rights, and After 1967, aged only 12, i was already active in anti-occupation movements. About 6 years ago i left Israel feeling betrayed by my country, as well as by my Palestinian friends who have turned away from a peaceful/political solution in favor of armed struggle which we all know they will loose. Reading Joe Sacco's books I found nothing new to me as to facts, but something was missing. I needed to find a trace of an effort to give a more balanced description and at least an attempt to go beyond the stories related to him. No trace of doubt (and we know that stories become more colorful with time, and we also know of a possibility of lying- As in the A-Durra affair where the Israeli army was accused of killing a little boy in the Gaza strip, and later it was proved that the boy is still alive and the whole affair was a propaganda story organized by Palestinians).... I feel that Sacco was innocently doing a a bad job that makes it hard for people like me to accept his message. For me, even if you filter the stories and accept only 10%, it is terrible. I Think I have enough of lies, from both sides. I left Israel because I couldn't go on living with the lies the system has fed me with, but I don't prefer the lies of the occupied Palestinians either. Would Joe Sacco understand that There are victims on both sides, victims of their own politicians mainly( but not only), and victimizers are too on both sides, people greedy for power and money who send others to die for their own personal causes disguised as national ones.

5 comments about Blood Brothers.

1. Well written story about the creation of the nation of Israel in 1947 - from an Arab Christian family's perspective. Very enlightening. Speaks to the need for a just peace for both sides.



2. This book jumped out at me in a used book bin in Seoul, South Korea. I had never heard of it before, but there were 5 or 6 copies piled up. This is a topic I have researched a lot - why had I never encountered this particular piece before?
   
   Several years ago, I had the privilege to work closely with a Jewish lady born and raised in pre-Israel Jerusalem. She told me stories of her life before WWII and the Jewish boom after the Nazis were defeated. And she told me tales of how Israelis - Jewish, Christian, and Muslim - lived together as friends. She also told me of independence day, when she and her Palestinian friends celebrated together. And then... she told me how she saw the treatment her Palestinian friends suffered at the hands of the Zionists.
   
   I wasn't there; I didn't see what happened. But from friends of mine who were born in exile and my own research, it looks like much injustice was done. This book is a fantastic first-person account that historically lines up with my friend's memories and stories from other friends' families, not to mention historical documents from Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and other bordering/nearby countries.
   
   As for the man's faith, I think he has an excellent idea of who Jesus actually was and what he stood for. Although I've heard several consider him absurd, people such as these do exist; although they are too few and far between.
   
   After reading several other reviews, I'd just really like to say that this book was heart-warming and inspiring. It's a story of a child coming into his own with a mission. And he seeks to fulfill that mission. Even if one could disprove it, the story and morals are invaluable. I half wonder if stories like this are held in check or simply not actively circulated because they're politically incorrect. As for me, I'm heading back to that bin and seeing how many more copies I can get for my Jewish-Christian family.



3. I read the book Blood Brothers, by Elias Chacour. The genre of this book is Historical, Christian Teaching and an autobiography.
   Elias Chacour, was born in the Palestinian village of Biram in upper Galilee in 1939. In 1948, after United Nations resolution, his country of Palestine became the sovereign state of Israel. Three years later, his own village changed forever. In 1951, Israeli soldiers marched into Biram and told the villagers there that they would have to leave the village temporarily for security reasons. When the people of Biram returned, they found their houses, their entire village, bulldozed by the Israelis. They have never been allowed to return.
   The author has a very distinctive point of view, he wrote this book based off of his experiences. This book has more meaning to him than just the fact that he wrote it, it means so much more because he lived it, he tells a side of the story that we don't often hear, the side of the Palestinian people. This book had many different ideas and themes behind it. From my perspective one of the main ideas was hardship and discrimination. The people of the Biram village were kicked out. Some people were taken away and killed for no apparent reason other than the fact that the people of the village and the soldiers that came in were of different faiths.
   The main theme of this book, again from my perspective, was religious differences between people. This theme will always be present and a pressing issue, but this story was told through the eyes of a young child being punished for his religious beliefs. All around the world people are being discriminated against because of what they believe, this is not fair and Elias Chacour strongly believes this and is willing to stand up against it. Elias Chacour, unlike many others chose to write this book though the eyes of a child, to show the true pain and suffering that children and adults go through.
   This is a quote from the book supporting this pain and the confusion of a young child when his father, uncles and brothers are taken away from him.
   
   "Crouched in a shadow outside the door, we stared as all
   the house of Gish gave up their men and older sons.
   Among the somber throng we saw all of our uncles, their
   faces riddled with tension. Young men filled the streets,
   their eyes a confusion of fear and defiance...
   Immediately the soldiers began to accuse." You are
   rebels. Tell us where your guns are hidden. We know you
   are fighters- Palestinian Terrorists." These words scorched me."
   
   These are the things that happen all the time. This young boy is watching his father, and other men being tortured in front of him, and they have done nothing. This young boy has to be punished for a crime that no one in his village had committed.
   
   This book has been very successful. This book is very well liked. Blood Brothers was Foreword by James A. Baker III, former U.S. secretary of state. This book has touched the lives of many. Blood Brothers was well written yet slow at times. There are some parts that go in to, too much detail and could have been left out. Also I was not prepared for the harsh truth that was presented in this book. I would recommend this book to someone who has a true deep passion for this kind of conflict, and for those who want to some how change this kind of discrimination. If this type of history doesn't interest you, I would advise against reading this book. All in all, the book had interesting incite in to the struggles of people all over the world.



4. Fastest service in book order yet from Amazon! Book in condition described (like new). Would do service with dealer again.



5. One interesting and legitimate tale of the complexities of the struggle for peace in the Middle-East. What makes this book remarkable is that it's a true story of one man's struggle to bring people together village by village. Just as in Three Cups of Tea, it's another reminder that peace comes through personal peacemaking at less cost and with greater promise than through the clash of armies.

5 comments about The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine.

1. After reading the first 200 pages of Pappe's book, I was convinced that it actually provides the true picture about events in Palestine since 1900. All the actions of the Zionist movement, as well as the unorganized reaction of the Palestinians (they were under Ottoman rule and British rule when Zionism started to become really violent), and the half hearted military support by neighbouring arab countries. It all makes sense.
   Considering that Palestine's neighbours are big recipients of US foreign aid (Egypt and Jordania), and considering that Fatah is also an Israeli puppet, on cannot help to feel awful about the fate of Palestinians, at the mercy of unbelievably cruel Zionist aggression.
   Before reading any comments by convinced zionist, I advise you to read at least the first pages of this book. If you are not a Zionist, you will feel the despair of palestinians and anger against all Zionists, be they Israeli, US or European. This crime should never be forgotten.
   BTW, Pappe is an Israeli professor, who is now "persona non grata" in Israel for speaking the truth.
   Any normal country would analyse such grave accusations of crimes committed by their institutions, but not Israel. It continues to accuse anyone daring to criticize its criminal policies as "anti-semitic". A very handy argument, since it obviously kills off any possible discussion on the topic.



2. To begin with a piece of information the hagiographic cover of the English edition of this work fails to disclose: Ilan is a senior member of the Israeli communist party. Is this relevant? It may, at any rate, explain the way he writes his history books.
   
   Contrary to Pappe's claim to be presenting us with original research, new conclusions, and shocking disclosures, over the last 20 years a whole industry of books, including but not confined to the works of the revisionist New Historians, have documented the extent to which the unfortunate exodus of much of the Arab population of Palestine was a complex story, something composite, diverse and multi-layered. No contemporary historian would claim that all the 700,000 Palestinians, who left their towns and villages during the war, did so voluntarily. This is uncontroversial. There were indeed some premeditated expulsions, as in the Lod-Ramla battles, and even some massacres, which caused many Arab civilians to run. There were richer Arab families, especially in the cities, who had the means to leave temporarily, hoping to return after victory (they left their homes furnished and took their keys with them). And there were even Arab villagers who collaborated with Zionists and preferred to seek accommodation with them rather than fight them. An example of such a community, still flourishing today, is the Circassian town of Abu Ghosh, which stayed neutral during the War of Independence, and was repayed in kind by future Israeli governments. But the majority of Arab villages were simply caught in the cross fire of war (a war involving two sides, and instigated by Arab leadership inside and outside the Mandate), and sought refuge for their families in exile. The reality was particularly complex and subtle; to attempt to reduce it to a single narrative, in this case "ethnic cleansing", is the act of an instrumentalist simpleton (the accusation of instrumentalising history for political ends is one that Prof Ilan admits to in his introduction; an introduction in which he also subjects us to some laughably naive theories of historical epistemology).
   
   A balanced analysis of the situation in the 1947-1949 period would have to also include the following counter-points (they require emphasis because - as E.H. Carr preached if not practiced - the bias of the historian reveals itself not in the distortion of facts, but in the incomplete selection of them):
   
   1. The Zionist leadership, not through disinterested benevolence but existential necessity, highly conscious of its extreme demographic weakness, was motivated to seek compromise and partition of land on its inception. The Peel Commission and later the Partition Plan were accepted by the Zionist Leadership and rejected by the Arab leadership who, under their Mufti, Husseini, insisted on a whole and undivided Palestine.
   
   2. Opportunities for peaceful accommodation were available, if the Palestinian Arab leadership had refrained from war with the nascent Israeli state. In a vicious dialectic, the Zionist perception of the Arab leadership's genocidal claims broadcast over the media (whether or not these were propagandistic rhetoric, or actually serious), and the many (here neglected) local massacres within the mandate, by necessity hardened their own views. In neglecting the dialectical context, even if its inclusion hadn't directly undermined his narrative (after all most cases of real ethnic cleansing also involve such vicious spirals) Pappe loses all pretense to academic good faith.
   
   3. An important fact, which is required to balance any Arab-Israeli narrative, is that, while the Palestinians were leaving their country, whether under expulsion or voluntary exile, the same number of Mizrahi Jews, fleeing from Arab countries, found refuge in Israel, where they were absorbed into the nation. This exchange of populations, which resolved one problem though it did nothing to settle the other, remains a living reminder that population transfers, though they may be painful and inhuman at the time, may also bring a problem to an end after a few generations, as was the case with the Jewish immigrants to Israel, something which the Arab governments continuously refuse to accept as a solution for Palestinian refugee communities within their own country. Kuwait expelled 400,000 Palestinians as late as 1990, a fact that barely seems to be known outside the Middle East. Palestinian refugees are still banned from owning property in most Arab countries, and in September 1970, King Hussein of Jordan killed up to 25,000 Palestinian refugees in an act of violence that surpasses in scale anything in the Arab-Israeli conflict.
   
   4. Coming back to the extant text. Examples of Pappe's bizarre interpretations are endless, and it is too tedious to list them all. In his second chapter (10-28), for example, he castigates Israel for its "drive for an exclusively Jewish state." Firstly, this is not true: the Declaration of Independence calls upon the Arabs to remain within the state and contribute peacefully to its construction. Secondly, 60 years later, over 20% of the population is Arab, and the net Arab Israeli population within the Green-Line is higher than it was in 1947.
   
   5. In incomprehensible ignorance, Pappe interprets military operations such as Nachshon (86-90) or Palm Tree (154-5) as premeditated moves within a secret plan of "ethnic cleansing," when those exact military operations were explicitly conducted for the sake of lifting the military siege of the opposing national armies. These are military operations in which we can be certain about motivations, given that they directly concerned the opening of supply lines and closing down opposing military positions. The exodus of Arab villagers that resulted from such operations was an outcome of the fighting. But to turn a result of the fighting into its cause is the same as claiming that America planned the Pacific War to test its nuclear bombs. Ilan Pappe is a walking case against the specialisation of labour within the academy - this man is a professor, yet he would fail an introductionary undergraduate class in formal logic.
   
   Even lacking the inclusion of the above points, Ilan could at least have produced a useful work of polemical history. In this he also fails. The agenda driven bricolage of stories and facts, which have been removed from all context, and then pasted to together to fit Ilan's predetermined narrative, is closer to communist agitprop than even the most biased works of polemical history. How can a historian, even a polemical one, claim to present the narrative of a conflict by exclusively compiling out of context reports of what one party allegedly did to the other? To take a simple image, which accurately describes Pappe's method, it is like collating newspaper reports on a boxing match, cutting out only the parts of the article which describe the punches delivered by one boxer, neglecting the punches of the other boxer, and sticking them all together into a single new article. The methodology is not only misrepresentative, but nonsensical.
   
   The last chapters address Israel's unilateral disengagement from Gaza, which has brought Hamas to power. Here we would expect a historian to analyse the conflict, presenting the motives behind both Israel's and the Palestinian leadership's current military strategies. Instead Ilan bizarrely elects to switch focus, writing tangentially about Israel's "zenophobic" demographic fears, presenting us with a seemingly irrelevant critique of contemporary Israeli "racism". This is not academic history, but the literature of a political campaign.



3. This is an eye-opening account of the strategic ethnic cleansing perpetrated by the Zionists before and after their 1948 independence. While some limited accounts about massacres and the systematic expulsion of the Palestinians have been talked about, very few non-Palestinian authors have gone to such lengths to document the attempt to create an all-Jewish nation. I am not an expert in the field to judge the academic merits and truth of all of Pappe's claims about the scope of the Zionist culpability in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine (on an intuitive level, it makes sense of the mass exile of Palestinians in 1947-49 that occurred), but the overall intent of the book and message is fair. That message is that the Palestinian plight and crisis has been overlooked, submerged, and largely whitewashed in the history of the development of the Israeli state. In order for a fair and just resolution to be realized, Pappe suggests that a fair and democratic state that is inclusive of the Palestinians must emerge. How that might happen, to the satisfaction of all interested parties, is yet by no means and easy thing to resolve. But Pappe's book is very helpful for those interested in getting a greater grasp of the injustices suffered by Palestinians.



4. There's no way to understand the situation there without reading these one. Never thought could be so painfull. Basically he made accounts direct from Israel's files about the plan and systematic expulsion, confiscation of property and land, and mass killings in the way to established the Zionist project: Israel. That is an ONGOING situation.



5. There is no question that the Zionists destroyed many Arab villages and drove out large numbers of Arabs starting in the "civil war" in 1947-48 and continuing in the 1948 war against Arab military forces from Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Jordan. But that's hardly the complete story. Pappe misrepresents the Arab population of Palestine as largely peaceful and also misrepresents the relative military strength of the Zionists vis-a-vis their several regular and irregular Arab opponents. Moreover, he fails to note that the Arabs repeatedly both promised and attempted to ethnically cleanse Palestine's Jews. The author fails to present an accurate or complete account of the events of this tragic period.

5 comments about The 188th Crybaby Brigade: A Skinny Jewish Kid from Chicago Fights Hezbollah--A Memoir.

1. There are plenty of books about Israel and about Arab-Israeli conflicts, but this one tells the story from a different perspective. At times the funniest book I've ever read and at other times the saddest, Chasnoff tells his story of how he seems to have figured out who he is, while learning more that he ever wanted to learn about the nation he considered his own. This book isn't about who is right and who is wrong (well maybe the Chief Rabbinate). Without banging you over the head to show it, this book tells a nuanced story of Israel and its external and internal conflicts. I think it's a must-read for anyone who wants a vivid picture of "military intelligence," Israel, or Judaism.



2. I LOVED this book. At first it made me laugh which is always nice, but then it took me on a gut wrenching journey that I never expected to take. Best of all, it was worth every second of it. Well written and witty, "Crybaby" tells a story that most/all American Jews can relate to. I know I did.



3. Chasnoff renders a unique tale as a 24-year old American Jew who voluntarily joins the Israel Defense Forces. From a hilarious telling of his acceptance into the army to a touching aftermath, Chasnoff's writing keeps you engaged as you navigate with him the difficulties of basic training and the constant possibility of actual combat. Chasnoff brings to the foreground the inductees who comprise his platoon and the sergeants, lieutenants and other officers whose decisions frequently spell life or death for him and the members of his company. His own history of growing up in a suburb of Chicago is interwoven throughout the narrative with skill, sincerity and a comedic touch that amplifies both ordinary and extraordinary events. A book that will stay with you and stimulate discussion for years to come. A wonderful read!



4. Spectral tale of how the nuts and bolts of the famed Israeli Army are unscrewed. I enjoyed this memoir immensely. Military conflict is not my usual fare. "Crybaby" was recommended to me and I'm glad I took the bite. Joel Chasnoff is a reliable narrator. A compelling and insightful read of what it was like to don the Israeli Army's uniform, strapped with rifle, feel sexy and confident, then train and serve in grueling conditions with idiotic commanders for a year and be totally unprepared for combat, and ultimately to be told he is not Jewish enough to marry in Israel.



5. A hilarious and heartfelt account of the author's voluntary time in the Israeli army and confrontation with his own identity. This book is raunchy and raw, witty, enlightening and touching. A swift read, it's laugh out loud, shake your head in disbelief, and nod in solidarity--all that a memoir should be. I eagerly anticipate Chasnoff's next endeavor.

5 comments about The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East.

1. There are thousands of books about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, but the Lemon tree is the best I have ever read. This book concentrates on the facts and is thoroughly referenced. The author lays out the facts without any attempt to choose a side. The reader with open mind will find it fasinating and truthful yet easy to read. Anyone interested in knowing the truth about this conflict should read this book.



2. Since this is nonfiction -- relaying the lives and histories of two individuals caught on either side of the Arab/Israeli conflict -- I found myself completely captivated. I feel I understand the challenge and complexity of the Middle East situation so much better. The book is not long and I believe is told without bias in favor of either point of view. Very strongly recommend this book for anyone interested in supporting world peace.



3. Thoroughly researched and documented, this book dispels a lot of myths about the origins of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, sparing neither side. It operates at both the macro and micro levels, showing how tensions between two people of good will can be subverted by poor decisions and actions elsewhere.



4. We loved the book. It was very informative. We are reccommending it to all of our friends.



5. This is a must read. It makes real what is happening in the mid east and how both sides feel