Product Description
This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1824 edition by Adam and Charles Black, Edinburgh. ... Read more

Book Description
This groundbreaking book re-examines the rise of nationalism in Palestinian politics, using a wide range of sources. Matthews argues that the advocacy of nationalist identity was inextricably interlinked with resistance to British imperialism. He probes early self-perceptions of Palestinian nationalism and its changing relationship with Islamic and pan-Arab identities. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Fine study of the British Empire's vicious methods
Weldon Matthews, an Assistant Professor of History at Oakland University in Michigan, has written a fascinating book on the growth of nationalism in 1930s Palestine under British rule. This is a brilliant study of the methods of British colonial rule, especially of divide and rule, in response to the activities of the Arab Istiqlal (Independence) Party, Palestine's first true nationalist party.

Founded in 1932, this party mobilised the Palestinian people for an independent and sovereign Palestine, against the British administration and against the Zionist project. It sought Arab unity and promoted non-cooperation with the administration. It supported the demonstrations by organised workers against the sharp increase in Jewish immigration in 1933. (The Zionists used immigration to undermine the Palestinian nation.) It also organised the six-month general strike in 1936, which started the three-year rebellion. It mobilised the people through newspapers, mass education and mass action. These actions succeeded in destroying the British system of colonial control.

British methods of rule in Palestine, as in its colonies and protectorates across Asia and Africa, derived from the Raj. They were designed to keep the colonies as non-nations. The administration proposed advisory and legislative councils, composed of government appointees and leaders of the religious `communities'. These were `mock parliaments', as Egypt's ruler Lord Cromer sneered.

The administration treated Palestine as a collection of religious communities, itself posing as the indispensable umpire. It refused to recognise the executive committee of the Palestinian Arab Congress, preferring confidential and personal relations with `community leaders' of `faith groups', especially with the mufti Hajj Amin, and it regularly funded his Supreme Muslim Council. Its censuses categorised the Palestinians as Muslims, Christians and Jews: there was no category of Arab.

The administration ran down the education service: only a fifth of Palestinian children attended school. It privatised education, devolving responsibility for schools to religious institutions. It opposed mass education because schools produced what Lord Cromer derided as the `political charlatan' with `perfervid eloquence and political quackery'. It controlled the press and all expressions of popular dissent.

The administration consistently backed Zionism. It secretly installed shotguns in sealed armouries in the Zionist settlements, taught Zionist settlers how to shoot, and collaborated with Zionists to spy on, harass and arrest Arab nationalists.
... Read more

Book Description
Articles on the religious, political, and social lives of the Jews, Christians, and pagans living in Palestine during the early centuries of the first millennium. ... Read more

Book Description
1887. Victorian soldier, explorer, and scholar, Claude Reignier Conder, gives a general idea of the present state of information concerning the ancient condition of a country that possesses peculiar interest as being the Holy Land of the Jew, the Christian and the Moslem alike. Contents: The Canaanites; The Phoenicians; The Hebrews; Jews and Samaritans; The Greek Age; The Herodian Age; The Roman Age; The Byzantine Age; The Arab Conquest; and The Crusaders. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing. ... Read more

Book Description
Still a basic and indespensible account of the Palestinian question, updated to include the most recent developments in the Middle East- from the intifada to the Gulf war to the historic peace conference in Madrid. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (23)

More Anti-Israel diatribe!
Another propaganda bandwagon: lets blame the Jews!

Dont buy this rubbish along with every other book written buy decieved Jew hating morons.

May Christ have mercy on these cretins.

Review on "The Question of Palestine"
In "The Question of Palestine" author Edward W. Said analyzes the complexity in recognizing the Palestinian plight that has plagued a society since the establishment of Israel.Said eloquently illustrates a different perception to the omnipresent and biased understanding of the Palestinian/Israeli issue. It was enlightening to analyze Said's version on the international conflict, not simply because I am sympathetic to a society under foreign occupation and in exile, but rather because it is a perspective not often pursued by the American general public.
"The Question of Palestine" depicts the effects of Zionism and how its blatant disregard of Palestinians is culpable for the ongoing strife in the region.Said describes the historical context in which the existence of Palestinians was disregarded from the very onset of Israel's creation.The author explains that his purpose in writing this book was to illustrate how the Palestinian's perceive Zionism.
Although Said is clearly an enthusiast for the Palestinian cause, he credits Israel's political organization, cultural achievements, and economic stability as the strength behind Israel's permanence.What I find fascinating about this book is that it addresses issues often ignored by America's biased media.American society has yet to adequately analyze the inhumane political and social injustices suffered by the Palestinians.In fact, often is the case that news coverage of Arabs in the region reinforce an already inbred stereotype of Middle Eastern society, that chaos and violence is a standard practice.
Said also emphasizes on how Israel, once a victim of oppression, has evolved into an oppressor.In "The Question of Palestine," Said explains how Palestine has been plagued by acquisition and occupation.In his book, Said describes his view of Israel as an imperialistic society.He also addresses the issue that the Palestinians were not consulted when their land was given to a new society for development. In essence, Said explains how the existence of the Palestinians was thought of as a minimal complication that will dilute with time.However, the reality of the matter is that the identities of the Palestinians are far from accepting defeat.
In "The Question of Palestine" Said describes how nearly 4 million Palestinians are scattered throughout the world.In this book Said questions how nothing is said when it is irrefutable that Israel is responsible for the deportation, torture, and transfer of population of millions of Palestinian Arabs.Said gives his readers an account of the Palestinian reality -- a struggle in which the natives are the disadvantaged.
Fundamentally, the purpose of Said writing this book was to bring attention to a vaguely commented issue - the reality of the Palestinian refugees.An issue that Said describes as ignored, or willfully misrepresented is no longer so. "The Question of Palestine" provokes its readers to question an issue that would not commonly be addressed.I recommend this book to anyone interested in Middle Eastern politics and to any individual on gaining insight on an issue that is unfortunately not often discussed.

The politics of victimization
Edward Said tries to portray the Zionism from its victims' point of view. He arbitrarily asserts that the Palestinians are victims of the Zionism. He never considers that perhaps they are victims of their own fanaticism and uncompromising policy that are practiced for decades that brought them into their pitiful situation.

Another leitmotif in the book is the idea that Zionism is colonialism. He tries to sell the story of the colonizing Jews against the native Arabs, never mentioning any connection between the Jews and Israel, as though it is comparable to the white colonialists out of Europe. Also, through selective quoting, as he did in his famous previous book, Orientalism, he tries to show that the Israeli Zionists have scorned the Arabs. He boldly ignores many Zionists who admired the Arabs and saw them as the new man they are trying to create, and the antithesis of Jews of the Diaspora: proud person, who lives in his lands, defends it and farms it.

He also criticizes the Zionism because it is made for Jews and not Arabs. But Zionism is the Jewish nationalism, and there is no reason why it should promote the rights of the Arabs. Just like the Arab nationalism is not about Jewish rights.

The terrorism issue is another colossal failure of this book. He conveniently blames the victims: he asserts that the terrorism is forced upon the Palestinians, as though they have no choice. He tries to have it both ways, but it's impossible. You either condemn the terrorism, or justify it. You can't be both pro-Palestinian enough by avoiding a whole condemnation and in the meantime be liberal enough by condemning murders. There is no middle way.

The book is also full of other mistakes and distortions that come handy in telling his message: the Balfour declaration was considerate of the Palestinian rights, in contrary to his writing, and explicitly declares: "it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine". He also considers the Jewish resistance against the British as terrorism (although it was against military, not civilians) and suggests that the brave Egyptian peace with Israel harms the Palestinians, and that Saadat has made many concessions (in fact, he did got all the territory that Egypt loss, except for Gaza strip which he didn't want).

The few good things that have to be said on the book are that its conciseness and fluency make it an easy read, and that his points that the Palestinian people exists and that their right to self determination must be fulfilled are precisely right.

Overcharged with ideology
The good thing about the book is that it is very well written and in a clear fashion. This renders such a diffucult topic understandable.

But the content is completely ideological and does not present the facts. It blames the corruption in arab's leadership for the suffering of the palestinians, but suggests this corrpution exists and was encouraged as a reaction to european orientalsm and zionist "occupation".

So at first the book starts with somewhat of a critic to arab leadership, but ends up suggesting zionism and related ideologies as "sources of arab corrpution".

This point is not new. It rather the norm in Edward Said's works. And the people who know the goodwill of jews know that the point he tries to make falls by its own contradictions.

Biased Story
Said's book presents valid arguments and discusses the anti-Arab prejudices of the West, and the corresponding support for Zionists in their expansionist mindset toward Palestine, but as Said states, "The reader will quickly discover, I hope, that what is proposed in this book is not an `expert' view nor, for that matter, personal testimony.Rather, it is a series of experienced realities, grounded in a sense of human rights and he contradictions of social experience, couched as much as possible in the language of everyday reality. (xv)."Said pronounced from the start that this is a subjective explanation of the conflict, and that his partisan stance may be jaded by his Palestinian experience.

Just as the Middle East dialogue is short-sided for its Zionist lens, Said commits the same fault of conditioning his book through one-sided Palestinian eyes.In spite of this point Said continues to valiantly defend Arab morals and society, while portraying Palestinian as `outlaws of sorts' to the West, seemingly for liberal identification and sympathy.The belittled Palestinians are defined as a nation of `others,' deriving their national identity as an opposition to Zionists.The suffering of the Israelis at the hands of Arab terrorists is ignored at best and is at points condoned as desperation in this time of frustration for Palestinian nationals.

The major fault with Said is that he attempts to polarize the issue, which is the same fault he has against the Western World.As the Western world portrays the Arab as criminal, backward, and uneducated, Said dresses the West and Zionists in a `white man's burden' suit without regard for what they characterize as`backward beliefs and customs' of the Arab world.Said paints a picture of a bullying Zionist and West mentality where the Zionists and West are said to believe that they have the Arabs' best interests at heart in their conquest of the Middle East.The imposing Zionists are sketched as overbearing, without any regard for Palestinian autonomy and rights.The Palestinians are nothing more than victims, and the Zionists are the perfect perpetrator of the Western crime.

The second major, yet related fault of Said, is that he is consistently referring to Western sources for his information and his history of Palestine and the conflict; the same fault he attaches to the Western-Zionist imperialists.Said fails to elucidate the profound impact of the Western World on Zionism; no where in the work does Said realize that Zionism, as an outgrowth of romantic European nationalism, never existed or promoted injustices performed against the Palestinians.The Western world may have been influential in its disregard or ignorance of Palestinians, but there was never overt or covert mention in early Zionist documentation of the need to make the Palestinians disappear.There are shaky quotations from Herzl and Begin, but in all the quotations attributed to these people there is never quality translations as evidenced in his lack of footnotes for Begin and his subjective and exclusionary citing of Herzl.

The two-state solution seemed probable with the signing of the Belfour Declaration.Palestine has always been a land of two people, and Said's answer is a two-state solution.However, in 1947 Arab leadership rejected a UN resolution for a two-state solution.Said contends the expansion minded Zionists then took Israel and exiled the Palestinians.He cites between 700,000-800,000 Palestinians were forced from their homes, but he does little to refute the Israeli claim that Arab leadership supported this move as evidenced by the War for Independence in Israel the day after Israel was granted statehood.In this war the Israelis were attacked by seven Arab countries, and defended themselves.Why would the Arab nations attack if not for the land?Would these Arab lands still have attacked with 750,000 Arabs still living there?I find it rather difficult to make the argument that the Palestinians were forced out and there was no leadership of prior knowledge of an Arab strike against Israel.

When morality hits reality Said struggles.The Middle East conflict is not simply a matter of divergent values and morals with the subjugation of the Palestinians to the Israelis.The truth is that both people identify with the land, and his reduction of this conflict of Western values clashing with Orientalism negates the realities surrounding the situation.Jews had always wanted to return to Israel, Ottoman Empire mandate only allowed certain immigration, as did all prior empires in Israel.The Zionists never left Israel they were forced out, but for all of Said's purposes the Palestinians were always there and never left.

It takes two for a conflict, and the closest Said can come to assigning any blame to Palestinians is when he reminiscence.He thinks of his childhood in Palestine and the notion that the encroaching Zionists would be beaten in war, not through politics or negotiations.If brutality is not the Arab mentality, and the political shortcomings of Palestine is a result of their lack of adopting Western values, how were the Palestinians supposed to behave in the early 20th century?Should they have not signed the Belfour Accord of 1917 in the Zionists move toward a state of their own, or should they have continued to have Massacres like the ones in Hebron in 1929?Or should they have done nothing, or could they have done nothing, as Said is most likely to respond. It is hard to believe that a couple hundred thousand Jews in Europe were able to overpower the Palestinians in all four of these aspects.

The Question of Palestine is a valuable book in creating a unique Palestinian voice, but it polarizes the Middle East conflict to such a degree that it seems that Israel, and the West for that matter, have decided to set the standard, rules, negotiations, and terms without any repercussions, because they know best. ... Read more

Product Description
German pioneers who developed settlements and businesses in Palestine - revolutionising agricultural production during late 19th and early 20th centuries. Their ventures contributed significantly to the modernisation of Palestine and ultimately Israel. ... Read more

Book Description
Based on an impressive array of sources including documents from the Cairo Geniza collection, the author examines the lives of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities of Palestine against a background of the political and military events of the period. An essential resource for students and specialists of mediaeval Islamic and Jewish history, religious studies and for anyone interested in the history of the Holy Land. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

An indispensable reference.
The reader is provided with what can only be described as a scrupulously documented and indispensable reference, that is a must read for any individual interested in a complete history of Palestine - especially in relation to the period dating from the Muslim conquest until that of the Crusaders.

Drawing on many historic Muslim, Christian and Jewish sources/texts/references, this study proceeds to reveal how the Muslim conquest of Palestine began before the death of Muhammad and how it subsequently subdued the population of Jews and Christians.

For the purposes of a review, it is impossible to refer to all the issues covered in a study of this depth and magnitude that spans nearly 1,000 pages, so for those interested I shall select only a few.

Early in this work, brief reference is provided to the events surrounding the Jewish revolt against Roman rule which culminated in 135AD with the "Diaspora", the renaming of the Jewish homeland as Syria Palestina (eventually anglicised into `Palestine') and the renaming of Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina..

The book documents how the period AD135 until AD638 saw the enforced separation of the Jews from Jerusalem and their most Holy site. Reference also being made to how this purportedly formed the integral basis of the convictions held by the "early Church Fathers" which resulted in so much anti-Semitism (hatred of the Jews).

At the time of the Muslim conquest the book illustrates how, despite the Diaspora, the majority of the population was indeed Jewish who referred to the Land as al-Sham (the Samaritans also being inclusive in this majority). The Jewish population itself is shown in this work, to not only be "survivors from the revolt against the Romans", but also to consist of the "direct descendants" of the generations of Jews who had lived there since the days of Joshua bin Nun.

In other words, a continual Jewish presence spanning some 2,000 years prior to the Islamic conquest.

The bookalso illustrates how the Jewish connection with the Temple Mount , Moses, David and Solomon was present in the minds of the Muslims during the conquests and that the prior injunction preventing Jewish access to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount (which had been used as a rubbish dump) was even initially revoked by the Muslims. Having said this, the book refers to some conflicting/contradictory information in relation to these issues.

The Muslim conquest of Palestine is described as opening an entirely "new page" in Palestine's history, amid a period that is shown to witness almost "unceasing warfare". The study stressing that the goal during the initial phases of the Islamic invasion of Palestine was to compel the nomadic tribes around the border to accept Islam and consolidate around Muhammad. The study citing numerous campaigns that are described as being "cruel" and accompanied by "rebuke and chastisement".

The reader is provided with references throughout. Having access to such detailed historical credentials it is difficult to weigh any Arab/Islamic/Palestinian claim to this land against that of the Jews who preceded them. The land being shown in this study to have been systematically and violently "de-populated" through Jihads, and then re-populated with Muslims/Arabs etc.. The Jewish and Christian populations described herein shown to have been subjected to the regulations imposed on the non-Muslimsthat were "vanquished" by jihad ("holy war") during which many Churches and Synagogues are cited as having been destroying by the invading tribes.

Indeed, the book provides some attention to the aforementioned "dhimmi" status afforded the non-Muslims and the adverse affects imposed upon their lives.

Amongst the outward manifestations detailed herein that are described as portraying the purported inferiority and humiliation suffered by non-Muslims, is the enforced wearing of distinguishing yellow marks by Jews and blue by Christians. The reader is provided with an ominous foretaste of what awaited the Jews in the 20th Century during the Holocaust.

The book culminates in the effects upon the population of Palestine, including the slaughter of the Jews, during the ensuing "Crusades".

Might I also respectfully recommend the following books to anyone interested in a detailed history pertaining to the region.

"Empires Of The Sands; The Struggle for Mastery in the Middle East, 1789 - 1923" by Inari & Efraim Karsh.
"From Time Immemorial; The Origins of the Arab - Jewish Conflict Over Palestine" by Joan Peters.
"A Peace To End All Peace; The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace" by David Fromkin.
"The Palestine War 1948" by Efraim Karsh.

Thank you for your time.

Stark reality of Muslim rule of Palestine, 634-1099
Middle East scholars have lauded "A History of Palestine, 634-1099" as the most comprehensive historiography of Palestine from the initial Arab Muslim conquests, until the arrival of the Crusaders in 1099. Remarkably, despite the constraints of academic annotation, and the uncertainties of translation (i.e., from Hebrew to English), Professor Gil's narrative is eminently readable for the non-professional student of history. Through the clear, dispassionate presentation of a rich profusion of data, he captures the stark, unromantic reality of Muslim ruled Palestine during this 465-year period.

Professor Gil begins with a survey of events before the Arab Muslim invasion. He also notes the singular centrality that Palestine occupied in the mind of its pre-Islamic Jewish inhabitants, who referred to the land as "al-Sham". Indeed, as Gil observes, the sizable Jewish population in Palestine (who formed a majority of its inhabitants, when grouped with the Samaritans) at the dawn of the Arab Muslim conquest were "..the direct descendants of the generations of Jews who had lived there since the days of Joshua bin Nun, in other words for some 2000 years..". The 465-year period carefully surveyed by Gil comprises the following stages: the Arab Muslim conquest and establishment, from 634 to 661; the Umayyad-Damascene rule, from 661 until 750; the Abbasid-Baghdadian rule, from 750 through 878; Turco-Egyptian rule- Tulunids and Ikshidids- from 878 until 970- "interrupted" by Abbasid-Baghdadian rule again, between 905 and 930; nearly two generations of war including numerous participants, the dominant party being the Fatimids, from 970 through 1030; just over 40-years of Fatimid-Egyptian rule, between 1030 and 1071; and a generation of Turkish rule encompassing most of Palestine, from 1071 until 1099.

Gil offers a particularly revealing assessment of dhimmitude (i.e., the regulations imposed on the non-Muslims vanquished by jihad), and its adverse impact on these conquered, indigenous peoples, in chapter 3 pages, pages 139 to 161. For example, excessive, arbitrarily imposed taxation in the first quarter of the 11th century lead to the destitution, imprisonment, torture, and death of many Jews living in Jerusalem. However, the clearest outward manifestations of this imposed inferiority and humiliation were the prohibitions regarding dhimmi dress "codes", and the demands that distinguishing signs be placed on the entrances of dhimmi houses. During the Abbasid caliphates of Harun al-Rashid (786-809) and al-Mutawwakil (847-861), Jews and Christians were requiredto wear yellow ( as patches attached to their garments, or hats). Later, to differentiate further between Christians and Jews, the Christians were required to wear blue. Finally, in 850, consistent with Koranic verses and hadith (sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad) associating them with Satan and Hell, al-Mutawwakil decreed that Jews and Christians attach wooden images of devils to the doors of their homes to distinguish them from the homes of Muslims.

Nearthe end of his extensive, scrupulously documented presentation, Gil offers this sobering assessment: "..These facts do not call for much interpretation; together they simply form a picture of almost unceasing insecurity, of endless rebellions and wars, of upheavals and instability..". ... Read more

Book Description
This book presents a social history of the music of the Jewish community in Palestine from the beginnings of Jewish immigration to Palestine in 1880 to the declaration of the State of Israel in 1948.The story is a fascinating case study of a small society of immigrants and refugees who established an internationally recognized professional musical establishment against a backdrop of two world wars, the absorption of successive waves of immigrants. local skirmishes, and a full-scale national war.Though under Ottoman and later British rule, Jewish society in Palestine was virtually autonomous in cultural matters; its musical culture struggled for a balance between a tranplanted European heritage and a powerful, ideologically driven desire to find inspiration from the East.Professor Hirschberg opens with a description of music in Palestine under Ottoman rule, and then proceeds to chart the momentous history of the next 70 years in a broadly chronological framework.His final chapters centre on the broad array of ideological and social polemics which dominated the musical scene for the entire period.As such, his book will be of interest not only to music historians (especially those interested in national schools and in twentieth-century music) but also to social historians, cultural anthropologists, and historians of contemporary Jewry. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Everything is found, "In my book"
I took Jehoash's class during my first year at Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem. It was a great class and I'm glad to know Jehoash. His passion is great and one can always find answers, "in my book." ... Read more

Book Description

Israeli scholar Tanya Reinhart takes a close look at the roots of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians and, drawing on maps, the Israeli media, and declassified documents, offers an invaluable analysis of all sides of the issue.

Customer Reviews (23)

Illuminating
This book unveils the vicious circle that is behind the Israeli power which is responsible for the crisis among them and the palestines. The author did a good job of showing the 'generous offer' fraud of the Israeli peace offers and the subsequent media highlight. It shows how the men-in-uniform-turned-politicians dictate every policy according to their military whim and push the region in to anarchy. As a result this book gets harsh criticisms from some other reviewers. It is really illuminating how the author unfolds the untold lies - the myths and realities - of the Oslo agreement and the root cause for the second uprising or intifada.

History and polemic
This is probably one of the more biased texts that can be purchased on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.It is worthwhile to provide to key examples:First the author when writing about the importance of Jerusalem to the Muslims and Jews claims that the Dome of the Rock is where "The Prophet ascended to Heaven" and then claims that the Western Wall is portrayed wrongly as part of the temple complex when it was really a retaining wall.So here we have the classic canard.Muslim beleif is accepted as 100% true and Jewish beleif is discounted.A 'night journey by winged horse from Mecca to jerusalem' become fact and a temple whose stones still exist is called 'myth'.An amazing reversal of history and western logic. It is in fact not true that anyone pretends the Western Wall was "part of the temple complex" and every religious Jew knows it was the wall that help up the temple mount, hence the word 'temple mount'.

Secondly the book accuses Israel of ethnic cleansing in 2002.This is interesting considering that there are more Palestinians in 2006 than there were in 2000.If they were ethnically cleansed one would assume there to be less living in the west bank and Gaza, in fact the opposite is true.If what is meant by 'ethnic cleansing' is the killing of more than 1000 Palestinians since 2000, then the same should go for the Palestinian killing of more than 800 jews since 2000.Somehow when one side kills its called 'ethnic cleansing' and the when the ther does it it is called 'freedom fighting and resistance'.

This is how bias works.The author pretends that her credentials as an 'Israeli' are good enough to pass this work off as fact.However merely being born in Israel doesnt make anyone an expert on anything.This book will make great reading for most students of the left who hate Israel, for neo-nazis, and islamists and anti-semites.

Seth J. Frantzman

Incompetent
The book is written by a profoundly ignorant individual in Israel history, typical leftist anti-Semitic propaganda to support global islamofascism.Those, who would like to know the truth and be educated in this subject, shall read the excellent documentary study conducted by Professor Francesco Gil-White ([...]) and the book "The Meadeast Peace Process. An Autopsy" Encounter Books, CA, 2002.You will find ,among the other conclusions, that Arafat and PLO has Hitler's Nazi roots, ties, and ideology, and therefore, constitutes a fascist organization with the ultimate goal which is eliminating the state of Israel and exterminating Jews. You will also that there is no and never was ethnic group Palestinians, that the occupied territories are in fact historic Jewish land on which a Jewish state of Israel with Jerusalem as a capital existed long before Arabs expelled Jews, and therefore, the territories in fact have been occupied by Arabs for centuries. Moreover, if you look at the author's curriculum vitae, you will understand that she is just incompetent in the subject.

Reality check
This is a book that goes behind the scenes and reveals the truth behind Oslo, Camp David and Taba, exposing the real motives and goals of Israeli politics.

Tanya Reinhart, an Israeli scholar and a strong advocate of a two-state sollution, revisits the not so distant past and, by presenting solid facts, dismantles the myth of Israeli generosity and Palestinian rejectionism, a myth so persistently and widely propagated by Israeli authorities and western media that it has eventually come to replace reality and be perceived as the ultimate truth.

Central to the book is Reinhart's criticism of Israeli policies and especially that of engaging in indefinite negotiations while preserving and advancing the situation in Israel's favor. To quote her exact words "the dream of peace has been replaced by the myth of negotiation".

Reinhart goes on to convincingly explain why she believes that an immediate evacuation of all the jewish settlements in the OTs is the only way faith will be restored and any real headway in solving the conflict will be made.

A very informative, well-researched and honest book, written by someone who has been experiencing and witnessing the hopeless situation on the ground.

There did seem to be a slight problem with the editing or printing of the book, as some notes from the writer to her editor(s) or reviewer(s) still appear in the text. However, don't let that put you off or make you wait for the next edition. This book is definately worth reading.

Wild Conspiracy Theories
Tanya Reinhart, a disciple of ultra-left propagandist Noam Chomsky, has produced one of the most extraordinary mythmaking tracts in the history of anti-Israel polemics. The list of discredited fictions revived in this book includes claims that the PLO "developed in the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon" (p9); that Israel demolished the PLO Research Center in Beirut for the purpose of "effacing virtually the entire record of collective Palestinian life" (quoting Edward Said) (p130); that the Oslo War was "triggered" by Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount (p88); that "no Palestinian terror attacks on Israeli civilians had yet taken place" before the breakdown of the peace process (p95); that twelve-year-old Muhammad al-Durra was killed by Israeli bullets (p108); that Fatah commander Thabet Thabet was killed by Israel because he was a "renowned moderate leader" (pp124-5); and that "the US forced starvation on millions of people" in Afghanistan (p179).

The centerpiece of Reinhart's book is the collapse of the peace process at the Camp David and Taba summits in late 2000. In her view, Ehud Barak wanted to restrict the Palestinian state to "five isolated cantons" and to guarantee that "the settlements will be expanded" (pp44-6). Failing to secure the PLO's surrender, he provoked the second intifada so that he could launch a campaign of state terror. "The easy way to exterminate a weak nation," observes Reinhart, "has always been to drag it into a hopeless war" (p96). Unfortunately, she neglected to explain this intriguing thesis to PLO leaders, who declared that "Barak agreed to a withdrawal from 95% of the occupied Palestinian lands," and boasted that "our eyes will continue to aspire to the strategic goal, namely, to Palestine from the river to the sea," i.e., the destruction of Israel (Faisal Husseini, Al-Safir, Lebanon, March 21, 2001).

Reinhart admits that her account of Israeli machinations has little credibility, noting that "it would take a sick mind to intentionally conceive and execute such a plot," the type found "only in absurd conspiracy theories." As if to confirm the point, she imparts a stunning revelation (p78): Barak and Sharon are running the conspiracy together! So extensive is this collusion that Reinhart has an entire chapter on the subject of "Barak's Version of Sharon." And this is merely the entrée to a much more elaborate fantasy. In her view, Israel is really a secret military dictatorship. After all, in television coverage of Israeli cabinet meetings, one sees "an equal number of uniformed representatives of the various branches of the military" (pp199-200). Count the uniforms! As for the objectives of this carefully disguised military junta, Reinhart is in no doubt: "mass evacuation of the Palestinian residents" under "the umbrella of an extensive regional war" (pp203-4). Her evidence for these claims is precisely nothing.

Discussing Israel's response to the PLO-Hamas terror war, Reinhart asserts that Israeli soldiers play "a little game" in which they like "to shoot a rubber-coated metal bullet straight into a Palestinian's eye." Her source is the Palestinian "human rights" group LAW (pp113-4, 251), infamous for engaging in "anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic" incitement and for misappropriating several million dollars in charitable donations (New York Sun, October 17 & 22, 2003). She also recites the testimony of an IDF officer who announces: "We are very much trying not to kill them." From this she deduces that Israel has a deliberate policy of maiming (pp114-6). Feigning outrage at this horrible crime, she conveniently omits the officer's statement that his soldiers "only shoot to wound Palestinians who are firing at them or throwing firebombs" (Jerusalem Post, October 27, 2000).

Reinhart then unveils her latest discovery: the "untold crime" of Jenin. "Ordinary language allows the use of the word 'massacre' for such cases of indiscriminate killing of civilians," she writes (p155) of the battle that claimed 52 enemy dead, according to UN figures, including 38 terrorists (Yagil Henkin, "Urban Warfare and the Lessons of Jenin," Azure, Summer 2003). Her evidence consists of an Internet posting by an "activist" based in Germany (pp152-3) and an interview with a disgruntled army driver and self-described madman who calls himself "Kurdi Bear" (pp161-5).

Other Reinhart allegations can be refuted with a moment's research. Charging that Israel has a policy of deliberate mass starvation, she quotes statistics on child malnutrition (pp175-7). Yet child malnutrition rates are worse (often far worse) in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Nicaragua, Oman, Panama, Peru, Russia, South Africa, Syria, Turkey, Venezuela, Yemen, and most of Africa and Asia (World Bank, "World Development Indicators 2005," Table 2.17). Apparently Israel has not been very successful in executing its covert strategy of genocide.

Admittedly, Reinhart does not restrict her focus to the Palestinian victims of Israeli terror. She also mentions the Israeli victims - of Israeli terror. Citing the assurances of a local PLO commander, she argues that Palestinian snipers who attack Israeli neighborhoods are actually working for the Israelis (pp101-2). As for targeted killings of terrorists, these are a clever trick by the Israeli army to provoke Palestinian suicide bombings against Israeli civilians: "those in the military sect have no reservations about sacrificing their own people" (p141).

Thus Reinhart claims that the peace process is a Zionist deception of the PLO, that Barak is in league with his fellow-conspirator Sharon, that Israel is ruled by a secret military junta, that the IDF has a "little game" of shooting people in the eyes, that there was a massacre in Jenin, that Israel is deliberately starving millions of people to death, that Israeli soldiers pay Palestinian snipers to fire into Israeli neighborhoods, and that the Israeli army kills Palestinian terrorists in order to provoke massacres of Israeli women and children. If you enjoy a good laugh at the expense of the radical left, you certainly won't want to miss this ridiculous little book. ... Read more

Book Description
Hadawi analyzes the people of ancient Palestine, through the years of British colonization; he examines the Jewish community and Zionism, the legacy of Jewish terror against both British and Palestinian targets. Later sections look at the role of the state of Israel, its treatment of Palestinians, and the emergence of the Palestine Liberation Organization. In the final chapter Hadawi covers the 1979 Camp David Accords, Israel's invasion of Leabon in 1982, and the intifada of mid-1989. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Michael Joseph Francisconi
It is always best to get two sides before coming to a decision. Palestinian and Israeli conflict stands at the center of all other issues in the Middle East. There are still fewAmericans that treat the Palestinians as if they part of the human race. Palestinian people are exposed to degrading cruelty.We read of political assassinations.Their homes are destroyed. They live in Apartheid.American Government acts as if this is natural, or even acceptable. The Palestinian movement does not have enough individuals in the USA to help bring about a change in US policy in the region.
The truth is Israel will only be secure when there is security and justice for the Palestinian people.The Peace movement in Israel understands this and the means through which a just and equitable peace can be secured for Palestinians is central to their program. Israelis fate is closely tied to the fate of the Palestinians.There are two nations and one country. Like any other settler state the settlers and the ingenious people must be reconciled within that one country. To restate this point Palestinians have an equivalent "not a superior" claim to the land, all the land, than the Israelis. Many American intellectuals are supporters of regional Manifest Destiny, settlers against the indigenous people of this region. These speakers of half-truth can never understand any "settler state" that cannot act in good faith with out first examining her soul.
Until now this has been a one sided struggle because Israel is a major recipient of US military aid, and little more than a client state for the Washington Empire. Because of the interference of Washington justice for both Palestinians and Israelis is denied. We are in the mist of an apocalyptic war.

Says more about the author than it does about the topic
You can read all about it!When Arabs committed acts of war against Israel, causing this small nation to decide to defend itself, it was really a premeditated expansionist plot by Israel!And when Israel asked Arabs for peace, it was proof that this small nation that needed peace to exist in the Middle East in fact preferred war and death!

When Israel, in wartime, made a mistake and killed some allies, that was a deep and sinister plot too!And when it liberated Eastern Jerusalem, which had been the de facto Jewish capital for millenia, this was actually an international crime.

Oh, there's more.When Canada commits the sin of trading with Israel, Hadawi threatens it, saying that Canada needs the Arab world far more than the Arab world needs Canada. This book boasts about the Arab boycotts of Israel, the Arab success in passing the infamous "Zionism-racism" slander in the United Nations, and the Arab attacks on Israel in 1948.

You might think that the author would see a reason why the Jews didn't like the White Paper of 1939, which condemned hundreds of thousands of them to death by keeping them from fleeing Nazi lands and moving to their internationally recognized refuge in what is now Israel. But he scoffs at all this, saying that the Jewish misfortunes in Europe actually helped the Zionists by allowing the few survivors to move to Israel! I wonder what he would have thought of a world in which a few million more survivors had existed?

To top it off, you would think that the author realizes that no matter how good or bad Israelis are, they probably appreciate the fact that Israel protects their lives, liberty, and property! But no, he ascribes the interest of Jews in staying alive and keeping their possessions to fanatical and wacky fundamentalist religious views.

Actually, yes, you probably should read this book.It will make a lifelong Zionist of you.It did that for me.

Let the Palestinians be heard!
Sami Hadawi's book is written from a Palestinian refugee's perspective and is a much-needed view for those of us who live in the US and have to hear the Israeli view of the conflict over and over again. Hadawi examines his own ties to the country now called Israel and relates the tragic tale of a people displaced by a stronger military force initially backed by powerful European states, the UN, and then later the world's only superpower, the United States. He covers everything from the history of the region and Palestinian life before the coming of the Zionist colonists/conquerors to the present conflict and what the Palestinians have gone through. Hadawi refrains from too much criticism of Israel though and instead focuses upon the results of the expulsion of Palestinians from Israel as well as the imperialist occupation of the West Bank and Gaza by Israeli forces and fanatical Israeli settlers/squatters. Some of what he writes about is personal and about families displaced and homes destroyed and the indifference of the world towards the plight of the Palestinians.Personally, I have mostly read Jewish-American and Israeli historians from both sides of the conflict and Hadawi's voice is something that is needed to counter-balance what is known about this sad situation that continues to be a major focus of American foreign policy concerns. Hadawi's words are filled with sadness that we can almost visualize such as his memories of his home in what is today Israel. What we learn from this book is that there are two people with ties and attachments to the land called Israel and the Occupied Territories. Only one people have all the rights and all the guns. If you are open-minded and want to see this conflict from a new POV that isn't given extensive coverage by the American media then you should make an effort to read this book.

More of a screed than a history

The subtitle of _Bitter Harvest_ is "A Modern History of Palestine", but it really should be "A Long Anti-Zionist Screed".The book really focuses very little on the people or leaders of Palestine.Instead it closely documents the misdeeds of the Israelis.While no sane person would argue that the Palestinians don't have plenty of grievances with Israel, Hadawi lets his pro-Palestinian mindset hijack the work, turning a history into an indictment.

I don't think it is particularly factual about those Israeli misdeeds, either.

On page 9, Hawadi states, "The first signs of unrest between Arab and Jew occurred in 1920 when Zionist designs on the Holy Land became apparent."What he really means is that the Arabs were still at rest.This ignores, for example, that Beha-a-Din, the Turkish governor of Jaffa, ordered the expulsion of all Russian Jews living in his city in 1914.Seven hundred were forced out in just the first day.In 1915, working as the "secretary for Jewish affairs" for Djemal Pasha, the same Beha-a-Din closed the Anglo-Palestine Bank, as well as the Zionist newspapers and schools.No unrest indeed.

On page 280, talking about the cease-fire between Israel and the PLO in 1981 just before the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, he states that "...all PLO guerilla attacks against Israel had completely ceased..." and that "The PLO had scrupulously respected the cease-fire...".Yet the immediate catalyst for the invasion of Lebanon was the murder in London of the Israeli ambassador Shlomo Argov by a member of the Palestine National Liberation Movement.Of course, the PNLM is not the PLO, so his facts are correct in a certain way, but the meaning he conveys, of unprovoked Israeli aggression, is obviously false.

In fact, as far as I can tell, he omits every single fact that would possibly show the Palestinians in a less than perfect light.There is only oblique reference to the 1973 war.The hijacking that led to the raid at Entebbe is never mentioned.He describes the attack on Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics as "the Munich incident of September 5, 1972, in which eleven Israeli and four Palestinian commandoes lost their lives" - making it sound as if they were all in a bus accident or something.There is no mention at all in his book of the 400,000 or so Jewish refugees that were tossed out of the Muslim countries after the 1967 war.

Even worse, Hadawi tells us almost nothing about the Palestinian people, their character, their leaders (Arafat is only mentioned on three pages of the book and two of these are single sentences) or their aspirations (with of course the exception of their aspiration to throw the Jews out and take back Palestine).He spends a grand total of a page and a half discussing the nature of Palestine, its area, the qualities of its land, the distribution of the population, their pursuits, they way they lived before the Jews arrived and so on.Even in this limited description, he manages to add in a couple of digs at the Zionists.

Hadawi also usessome sources that I consider questionable or at least obscure.He quotes private conversations, obscure university professors, and even an anonymous letter to an American newspaper.In one place (page 85) he puts a quote in the text that in the footnotes he proves is impossible to verify and on shaky ground to start with.

If you want to read a book that fills you in on every grievance that the Palestinians have ever had with Israel, then this is the book for you.If you're looking for a simple history as told from the Palestinian point of view, you'll find this book lacking. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An amazing magic trick
This book is pretty much an official Zionist version of the history of the area as one will find. It has a forward by one of the high ranking members of the zionist brigrade - Shimon Peres.

Several things surprised me about the book :

1) How much of the history of this land seems to be taken from the Old Testament! Where is the verification of any of these supposed facts? What about critical analysis of the Old Testament? Perhaps the authors had axes to grind. This leads onto point 2)

2) How little verifiable data there is on the land from these times. Despite this one still can realise point 3)

3) The mulitcultural nature of the Holy Land throughout time.

The book also seems to imply that in the Roman era the Jews were only thrown out of Jerusalem and not the entire Holy Land. Before reading the book, I had had the impression that the Jews had been the only people, almost without exclusion, living in the Holy Land from antiquity to year O. How wrong I was!

Of note for Muslims are the evidences given that early in the Islamic era Muslims would make an annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem, which is interesting given the discussion over Bekka (Mecca is not mentioned as the place of pilgrimage in the Quran, Bekka is)

The book does an amazing magic trick at the end where it makes the Arabs disappear and replaces them with 'Israelis'. This leads to the happy ending where everyone lives happily ever after. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Biblical Archeology book
Interesting, but not enough current information and not easy to understand for an amateur.I am a minister and teach Biblical Archeology to parishioners. ... Read more

Book Description
This book aims to alter profoundly the accepted version of the history of post-World War II Egyptian foreign policy. To this end, Doran convincingly demonstrates the absence of any true pan-Arab front from the very beginning of the Arab League. Reconsidering Cairo's policy decisions during the critical years from 1944 to 1948, he proves that Egyptian national interests were always placed before the united Arab front against Israel. Even while participating in the 1948 war with Israel, Egypt regarded Zionism and the Palestine Question as less important than achieving independence from Britain and thwarting the expansionist aims of Iraq and Jordan. Ultimately, this study is a bold rethinking of twentieth-century Middle Eastern politics and history, with key implications for both the study of the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict and the volatile politics of the Middle East in general. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

New insightful take on middle east politics
Doran provides readers with a new outlook on Pan-Arabism, I found his work challenged much of the preconcieved notions in the field and hence is worth much merit. I am looking forward to another book...

fine piece of work
Mike Doran is one of the most promising young boxers around and pound for pound should give any of his future competitors in the squared circle a serious run for their money. I give him 5 boxing gloves...Oops. I'm sorry.You meant Mike Doran the writer on middle eastern politics. Um, never heardof him, but I'm sure this is probably a fine book.

A very interesting book, but a bit pricey!!
A very well researched and written book. This is the work of a very promising young scholar. ... Read more

Book Description
This book utilizes the official statistics of the Ottoman government and British mandate to establish what the actual facts about the Palestinian population were. It presents a detailed statistical picture of the inhabitants of Palestine in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including fertility and mortality rates, and Jewish and Arab immigration figures. The Population of Palestine offers invaluable information and analysis, much of which is unavailable elsewhere, clarifying crucial questions about the history of Palestine prior to the creation of Israel. ... Read more