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ePALESTINE NOTES
ePalestine.ps - Sam Bahour

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News & opinions from a Palestinian-American
living & working in Ramallah/Al-Bireh, Palestine

Books

Overview | Recently Added | Full List


“Arabs and Israel for Beginners” by Ron David and Susan David [Recommended]

“Arabs and Israel for Beginners” by Ron David and Susan David [Recommended]

by | August 21, 2007 | Books

Arabs & Israel For Beginners covers the Middle East from ancient times to the present, tells the truth in plain English, and is one of the few non-scholarly books that is relentlessly fair to both Jews and Arabs. If you want to continue to believe fairy tales about Arabs in Israel, don’t touch this book – it will surely be hazardous to your closed mind. If you want the truth about 12,000 years of Middle Eastern History, then Arabs & Israel For Beginners is the perfect place to start.


“The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy” by  John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt [Recommended]

“The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy” by  John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt [Recommended]

by | July 4, 2007 | Books

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER. Originally published in 2007, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, by John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Stephen M. Walt of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, provoked both howls of outrage and cheers of gratitude for challenging what had been a taboo issue in America: the impact of the Israel lobby on U.S. foreign policy. A work of major importance, it remains as relevant today as it was in the immediate aftermath of the Israel-Lebanon war of 2006.


“Broken Promises, Broken Dreams: Stories of Jewish and Palestinian Trauma and Resilience” by Alice Rothchild [Recommended]

“Broken Promises, Broken Dreams: Stories of Jewish and Palestinian Trauma and Resilience” by Alice Rothchild [Recommended]

by | May 20, 2007 | Books

The tragedies of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians are never far from the pages of the mainstream press. Yet it is rare to hear about the reality of life on the ground, and it is rarer still when these voices belong to women. This book records the intimate journey of a Jewish-American physician travelling and working within Israel and the Occupied Territories. Alice Rothchild grew up in a family grounded by the traumas of the Holocaust and passionately devoted to Israel. This book recounts her experiences as she grapples with the reality of life in Israel, the complexity of Jewish Israeli attitudes, and the hardships of Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza. Through her work with a medical and human rights project, Rothchild is able to offer a unique personal insight into the conflict. Based on interviews with a number of different women, she examines their diverse perspectives and the complexities of Jewish Israeli identity. Rothchild’s memorable account brings to life the voices of people mutually entwined in trauma, and explores individual examples of resilience and resistance. Ultimately, the book raises troubling questions regarding U.S. policy and the insistence of the mainstream Jewish community on giving unquestioning support to all Israeli policy.


“Blood and Religion: The Unmasking of the Jewish and Democratic State” by Jonathan Cook [Recommended]

“Blood and Religion: The Unmasking of the Jewish and Democratic State” by Jonathan Cook [Recommended]

by | April 20, 2006 | Books

This is an account of the Jewish state’s motives behind building the West Bank wall, arguing that at the heart of the issue is demography. Israel fears the moment when the region’s Palestinians become a majority. The book charts Israel’s increasingly desperate responses to its predicament including military repression of Palestinian dissent on both sides of the Green Line; accusations that Israel’s Palestinian citizens and the Palestinian Authority are secretly conspiring to subvert the Jewish state from within; a ban on marriages between Israel’s Palestinian population and Palestinians living under occupation to prevent a right of return ‘through the back door’; the redrawing of the Green Line to create an expanded, fortress state where only Jewish blood and Jewish religion count. (Publisher’s description)


“The Woman I Left Behind”, a novel by Kim Jenson [Book Review]

“The Woman I Left Behind”, a novel by Kim Jenson [Book Review]

by | April 2, 2006 | Books, Writings

The Woman I left Behind is much more than an untraditional love story. A Palestinian refugee and a young American woman become equally entangled in the each other’s past, present and future. Their story is interwoven with class struggle, national aspirations, careers, love, and the good and bad of each other’s culture. Both of them, searching for a meaningful relationship, find that courage is needed when they are confronted with the opportunity to learn about themselves through the other.


“The Other Side of Israel: My Journey Across the Jewish-Arab Divide” [Book Review]

“The Other Side of Israel: My Journey Across the Jewish-Arab Divide” [Book Review]

by | December 16, 2005 | Books

Although she arrived in Israel in 1999 as an ardent Zionist, over several years she became more and more interested in discovering the true situation of the Arabs inside Israel, who despite their sizable proportion of the population, seemed all but invisible to her.  This led to her decision to move to Tamra, a single Jew in a town of over 25,000 Arabs.  This was an unprecedented action in Israeli society. The deep friendships she developed reflect her view that despite the unofficial policy of separation that is actively promoted by the Israeli government, there is true hope of reconciliation and cooperation.


“From Oslo to Iraq and the Road Map: Essays” by Edward W. Said [Recommended]

“From Oslo to Iraq and the Road Map: Essays” by Edward W. Said [Recommended]

by | August 9, 2005 | Books

In his final book, completed just before his death, Edward W. Said offers impassioned pleas for the beleaguered Palestinian cause. These essays, which originally appeared in Cairo’s Al-Ahram Weekly, London’s Al-Hayat, and the London Review of Books, take us from the Oslo Accords through the U.S. led invasion of Iraq, and present information and perspectives too rarely visible in America. Said is unyielding in his call for truth and justice. He insists on truth about Israel’s role as occupier and its treatment of the Palestinians. He pleads for new avenues of communication between progressive elements in Israel and Palestine. And he is equally forceful in his condemnation of Arab failures and the need for real leadership in the Arab world. “These searing essays refract the reality of terrible years through a mind with extraordinary understanding, compassion, insight, and deep knowledge.”—Noam Chomsky. (Publisher’s description)


“The Case for Palestine: An International Law Perspective” [Recommended]

“The Case for Palestine: An International Law Perspective” [Recommended]

by | February 28, 2005 | Books

John Quigley brings a necessary international law perspective to bear on the seemingly intractable Israeli-Palestinian conflict in this updated edition of his important book. Since 2000, the cycle of bloodshed and retribution has spiraled increasingly out of control. Quigley attributes the breakdown of negotiations in 2000 to Israel’s unwillingness to negotiate on the basis of principles of justice and law. He argues that throughout the last century, established tenets of international law—and particularly the right of self-determination—have been overlooked or ignored in favor of the Zionists and then the Israelis, to the detriment of the Palestinians.


“A History of Modern Palestine” by Ilan Pappe [Recommended]

“A History of Modern Palestine” by Ilan Pappe [Recommended]

by | November 3, 2003 | Books

Tracing the history of Palestine from the Ottomans in the nineteenth century, through the British Mandate, the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, and the subsequent wars and conflicts which have dominated this troubled region, Ilan Pappe’s widely acclaimed A History of Modern Palestine provides a balanced and forthright overview of Palestine’s complex history. Placing at its centre the voices of the men, women, children, peasants, workers, town-dwellers, Jews and Arabs of Palestine, who lived through these times, this tells a story of co-existence and co-operation, as well as oppression, occupation, and exile, exposing patterns of continuity as well as points of fracture. Now in an updated third edition, Pappe draws links between contemporary events, from war in Lebanon, violence in the Gaza Strip and the Arab Spring, with the long history of Palestine, taking into account the success of Israel without neglecting the on-going catastrophe suffered by Palestinians, leaving hope for a better future for all who live in, or were expelled, from Palestine.


“The Palestinian People: A History” by Baruch Kimmerling and Joel S. Migdal [Recommended]

“The Palestinian People: A History” by Baruch Kimmerling and Joel S. Migdal [Recommended]

by | March 27, 2003 | Books

“This remarkable book recounts how the Palestinians came to be constituted as a people. The authors offer perceptive observations on the status of Palestinian citizens of Israel, the successes and failures of the Oslo process, and the prospects for both Palestinians and Israelis of achieving a peaceful future together. A dispassionate and balanced analysis that provides essential background for understanding the complexities of the Middle East.”—Rashid Khalidi, University of Chicago