Books
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![“The Idea of Israel: A History of Power and Knowledge” by Ilan Pappe [Book Review]](https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/TheIdeaofIsrael-AHistoryofPowerandKnowledge2528IlanPappe2529-798828-1.jpg)
by Sam Bahour | July 20, 2015 | Books
Israeli historian, Ilan Pappe, takes the reader through the maze of knowledge creation in Israel and how that journey has interacted with power. The invaluable intellectual contribution and framing that Professor Pappe provides cannot be overstated. He documents for all serious researchers who follow how the dust (or more like blood) of Israel’s foundational moment has yet to settle. The events in and around 1948 that led to the creation of Israel and the colossal loss of Palestine were such a historic tragedy that even the well-oiled Israeli and Zionist public relations machines have been unable get traction to settle the historic account.
![“The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood” by Rashid Khalidi [Recommended]](https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/The-Iron-Cage-The-Story-of-the-Palestinian-Struggle-for-Statehood-by-Rashid-Khalidi.jpg)
by Sam Bahour | May 7, 2015 | Books
At a time when a lasting peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis seems virtually unattainable, understanding the roots of their conflict is an essential step in restoring hope to the region. In The Iron Cage, Rashid Khalidi, one of the most respected historians and political observers of the Middle East, homes in on Palestinian politics and history. By drawing on a wealth of experience and scholarship, Khalidi provides a lucid context for the realities on the ground today, a context that has been, until now, notably lacking in our discourse. (Publisher’s description)
![Support Palestinian women writers! “Al-Khawaja”—a new book release in Arabic from Fida Jiryis [Recommended]](https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/khawaja-anthology-fida-jiryis.png)
by Sam Bahour | February 21, 2014 | Books, Sam's Writings
Those of you who know me personally know how much I respect the written word. It is in this spirit that I write you as part of my ongoing efforts to support Palestinian culture and arts, especially writing, and more specifically women writers. One of the up and coming woman writers whom I’m supporting is Fida Jiryis. Fida is from the Palestinian village of Fassouta, near the border with Lebanon. She is a dear friend and dedicated colleague. AL-KHAWAJA is a sequel to Fida’s first book of short stories titled Hayatuna Elsagheera (“Our Small Life”).
![“Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel” book by Max Blumenthal [Recommended]](https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Goliath-Life-and-Loathing-in-Greater-Israel-by-Max-Blumenthal.jpg)
by Sam Bahour | October 1, 2013 | Books
In Goliath, New York Times bestselling author Max Blumenthal takes us on a journey through the badlands and high roads of Israel-Palestine, painting a startling portrait of Israeli society under the siege of increasingly authoritarian politics as the occupation of the Palestinians deepens…Through his far-ranging travels, Blumenthal illuminates the present by uncovering the ghosts of the past — the histories of Palestinian neighborhoods and villages now gone and forgotten; how that history has set the stage for the current crisis of Israeli society; and how the Holocaust has been turned into justification for occupation. A brave and unflinching account of the real facts on the ground, Goliath is an unprecedented and compelling work of journalism. (Publisher’s description)
![“Palestinians in Israeli School Books: Ideology and Propaganda in Education” [Recommended]](https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Palestinians-in-Israeli-School-Books-by-Nurit-Peled-Elhanan.jpg)
by Sam Bahour | August 7, 2012 | Books
Each year, Israel’s young men and women are drafted into compulsory military service and are required to engage directly in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This conflict is by its nature intensely complex and is played out under the full glare of international security. So, how does Israel’s education system prepare its young people for this? How is Palestine, and the Palestinians against whom these young Israelis will potentially be required to use force, portrayed in the school system? Nurit Peled-Elhanan argues that the textbooks used in the school system are laced with a pro-Israel ideology, and that they play a part in priming Israeli children for military service. She analyzes the presentation of images, maps, layouts and use of language in History, Geography and Civic Studies textbooks, and reveals how the books might be seen to marginalize Palestinians, legitimize Israeli military action and reinforce Jewish-Israeli territorial identity. This book provides a fresh scholarly contribution to the Israeli-Palestinian debate, and will be relevant to the fields of Middle East Studies and Politics more widely. (Publisher’s description)
![“Fatal Embrace: Christians, Jews, and the Search for Peace in the Holy Land” [Book Review]](https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/fatal-embrace-mark-braverman.jpg)
by Sam Bahour | April 20, 2011 | Books, Sam's Writings
Reviewed for The Jewish Post & News (Winnipeg, Canada). Braverman is unequivocal in his judgment that Israel’s ongoing destruction of Palestine, which he portrays throughout with brutal honesty, is also destroying Israel itself. His urgent call for more effective interfaith and diplomatic intervention from outsiders is clearly aimed at rescuing Israelis as well as Palestinians. Just one example, quoting from something he wrote in 2008: “Israel’s policy, remarkably consistent and relentless…, to obtain complete political and economic control of all of Palestine, is killing Israel—its young people, its economy, its soul, its very future.”
![“Towards a Jewish Theology of Liberation” (3rd Expanded Edition) by Marc H. Ellis and Julia Neuberger [Recommended]](https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Toward-a-Jewish-Theology-of-Liberation-by-Marc-H-Ellis.jpg)
by Sam Bahour | April 1, 2011 | Books
Foreword by Desmond Tutu and Gustavo Gutierrez. Marc Ellis fine book about the future of the Jewish community was first published in 1987. But twenty years on, in the light of recent events in the Middle East and post-September 11, its powerful message of hope, directed towards a people ‘poised between Holocaust and empowerment’, remains as powerful, apposite, and pressingly relevant as it was before. Ellis begins with two poles: the holocaust and the pain and vision that issue from it. This leads him into ethics, and he highlights the contrast between the depth of Jewish ethical commitment and the paucity of renewal movements within Judaism. The author then addresses all suffering peoples, and the Christian liberation movements active among them, so that the holocaust may be set in a wider context. Against this background, Ellis sees it as essential that the journeys and visions of dissenting Jews—such as Etty Hillesum and Martin Buber—should be re-appraised. An alternative perspective of what it means to be Jewish begins to emerge, and in the final chapter a Jewish theology of liberation is essayed, which is a theology prepared ‘to enter the danger zones of contemporary Jewish life’, often at some cost. (Publisher’s description)
by Sam Bahour | March 15, 2011 | Books
As international awareness of the apartheid nature of Israel grows, Omar Barghouti offers a manifesto for winning Palestinian civil rights.
Thirty years ago, an international movement utilizing boycott, divestment, and sanction (BDS) tactics rose in solidarity with those suffering under the brutal apartheid regime of South Africa. The historic acts of BDS activists from around the world isolated South Africa as a pariah state and heralded the end of apartheid.
Now, as awareness of the apartheid nature of the State of Israel continues to grow, Omar Barghouti, founding member of the Palestinian Civil Society Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel, presents a renewed call to action. Aimed at forcing the State of Israel to uphold international law and universal human rights for the Palestinian people, here is a manifesto for change.
![Malkit Shoshan’s “Atlas of the Conflict: Israel-Palestine” reference book [Recommended]](https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/atlas-of-the-conflict-cover.jpg)
by Sam Bahour | November 1, 2010 | Books
The Atlas of the Conflict maps the processes and mechanisms behind the shaping of Israel-Palestine over the past 100 years. Over 500 maps and diagrams provide a detailed territorial analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, explored through themes such as borders, settlements, land ownership, archaeological and cultural heritage sites, control of natural resources, landscaping, wars and treaties. A lexicon, drawing on many different information sources, provides a commentary on the conflict from various perspectives. As a whole, the book offers insights not only into the specific situation of Israel-Palestine, but also into the phenomenon of spatial planning used as a political instrument. (Publisher’s description)
![Zionism’s Invented State [Book Review]](https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/israeli-exceptionalism-m-shahid-alam.jpg)
by Sam Bahour | March 18, 2010 | Books, Sam's Writings
This was not the first time I have read the word “exceptionalism” in relation to Israel. New York Times columnist Roger Cohen recently wrote that Israel “lives in a perpetual state of exceptionalism.” (New York Times, Oct. 16, 2009). However, Professor Alam explored this Israeli phenomenon on a deeper level of its underlying ideology to shed light on why this abnormal state seems to be unable to come to terms with modern day realities.
![From AIPAC’s La-la Land to the Bitter Reality in the Holy Land [Book Review]](https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Cover-707102-1.jpg)
