Israel Books

This is a very refreshing and compelling study, trenchantly argued and comprehensively researched. Do not believe what the History Channel and other media outlets propound; read and assimilate the facts.

At last, a well argued, clear, thoughful and incisive academic book on Pilate. Bond has a clear grasp of first-century culture, both Roman and Jewish, and handles texts highly effectively. As yet, this book is the serious historical piece on Pilate that has no competition over its academic credentials.
Dr. John C. McDowell, Meldrum Lecturer in Systematic Theology

Lustiger's book is a stimulating theological read related to Christianity's understanding of the Election of Israel. Non-Jewish Christians (Lustiger's Pagan-Christians) participate (not supplant or replace) in the Covenant of Israel through the Messiah of Israel, Jesus. For non-Jews to accept/follow Jesus' offer of salvation and participation in the Covenant of Israel as non-Jews, a prerequisite is to affirm the Election of Israel and see their own Election/Salvation as an extension of the Election of Israel. Lustiger offers many beautiful new ways to read passages in Matthew. Like Stuart's excellent review above, I've found this a most important book with an very unique voice.

Aaron Jean-Marie Cardinal Lustiger (1926-2007), a child of Polish-born secularized Jewish parents, was raised in Paris, and fled with his family to the south of France (Orléans) during WW II. Tragically, his mother returned to Paris to take care of business affairs, was betrayed by her maid, and deported to Auschwitz where she was murdered. Lustiger came across a Protestant Bible as a young adolescent, and in August of his 14th year became a convert, which conversion his father unsuccessfully sought to have reversed. His sister also converted. Lustiger and his father were reconciled in the 1970's, and then Bishop Lustiger made arrangements for the Jewish funeral of his father. He was Archbishop Emeritus of Paris, and throughout his life stood faithfully as a witness to Jewish suffering, the elect status of the Jewish people, and to Christ, the crucified. In religiously liberal France he was known as an excellent communicator, and like close friend John Paul II, modern in his style and traditional in his convictions. He was considered by some to be a logical successor to John Paul, but he demurred for reasons of health.

This compilation brings together a collection of meditations on the Gospel of Matthew delivered to a group of French contemplative nuns, supplemented by a few brief addresses delivered in the 1990's to various Jewish audiences. Throughout, Lustiger demonstrates an unflinching and consistent conviction that Israel is the Elect people of God and that Jesus is first and foremost their Savior and Redeemer, Furthermore, without exception, he refers to Gentiles, even Gentile Christians as "pagans," underscoring that Christian access to the grace of God is always via God's prior and continuing mercy to Israel. In this book, he explores the ways in which both Israel and the Church need each other, the contours of their respective and collective missions, and ways the attitudes of each community toward the other must change if they are to fulfill their destiny and responsibility to God and to humankind.

In Chapter One, "Jesus and the Law," he argues against seeing the Jews and their law as superseded by another code and another people. Jesus is presented as exemplifying and ratifying Torah obedience. God is seens as enabling us to walk in the obedience of Christ, patterned after the Law, and facilitated by the Spirit. Chapter Two, ""The Ten Words," shows how God himself exemplifies the righteous requirements of the Ten Words. Chapter Three, "Prophecy Concerning the Life of Jesus," examines the Matthean nativity story and the corporate solidarity of Jesus and Israel.

Chapter Four, "Prophecy of the Life of the Disciples of Jesus," continues considering the second chapter of Matthew, seeing uit as foreshadowing the mission of Christ, the Church, and the final judgment, as well as the unity between those who suffer for the Kingdom of God, (including faithful Israel) and the kingdom of God and Christ. Matthew two also underlies Chapter Five, "The Passion of Christ Throughout History," which considers how the Church rejects Christ a whenever it rejects or persecutes Israel, highlighting the solidarity between the sufferings of Israel and those of Messiah.

In Chapter Six, "In Him, All God's Promises Are Fulfilled," he demonstrates how in Jesus, the Kingdom of God is a present reality among us, bt in a secret form, not yet fully and triumphantly manifest. Through the gift of the Spirit, Jesus' eschatological foreshadowing of Israel's blessed future is communicated to us. Our foretaste of the age to come is a foretaste of Israel's prophetic destiny--obedience to Torah, fullness of the Spirit, resurrection of the dead, and regathering of God's people--all signs borrowed from Ezekiel 36-37.

Chapter Seven, "The Hope of Israel," examines the third chapter of Matthew, again countering supersessionism by presenting Yeshua the Messiah as Israel's hope. The Older Testament is not invalidated by his coming but extended to the pagans through New Testament and Christ, and this is a grace immersed in sufferings now, with glories to follow. We live between the already and the not yet, just as Jesus was not yet glorified. The passion of Christ reveals both the measure of our sin and the scope of our forgiveness: we could not bear the knowledge of our sin otherwise. We can then go on in the Holy Spirit, willing to suffer for his name's sake. Chapter Eight, "Christ's Passion Reveals the Sin of All" explores the mystery of Messiah: Why was "necessary" that the Messiah had to die? In the account of Christ's passion we see representatives of every class of humankind, all demonstrated to be in need of the fruits of his passion. In Christ we se the character and dpth of our sin. Through this same passion, we are enabled to live a new life in union with Christ through his outpoured Spirit.

Chapter Nine, "Jesus Crucified, the Messiah of Israel: Salvation for All," shows how the salvation Christian pagans receive is a participation in the election of Israel. For both Israel and the Church this should result in holy living. Israel and the Church are meant to have a reciprocal relationship. Chapter Ten, "Access Thorugh Christ to All the Riches of Israel," considers what are the riudcghes accessible to the pagan nations through the cross of Christ? Among these he names these include access to Israel's history, her Law, her Scripture, her prayer life and festivals, her land, the Kingdom of God, the redemption and repentance. It seems that for Lustiger, these are already the possession of Israel apart from explicit Yeshua faith. Chapter Ten, "Facing Israel--The Nations' Examination of Conscience," shows how the Church and the nations are responsible for anti-Seminitism and must repent by reaffirming the unique and elect status of Israel, while allowing Israel to be who sshe is befoe God, and self-defined. Perhaps then the wound between Israel and the Church will begin to heal. Lustiger hopes for the rebirh of what was lost in the early centuries, a Churchfrom among the Circumcision.

The final four small chapters consist of brief addresses given to Jewish audiences. Chapter Twelve, "Israel and the Gentiles," speaks of how Israel must transcend merely national concerns because its election is not for itself alone. Chapter Thirteen, "From Jules Isaac to John Paul II, " examines the contribution of the latter, the heroic reopening of dialogue after 2000 years, post-Auschwitz. The recovery of memory which Auschwitz sought to obliterate, the need for Christians and Jews to continue to find eaqch other and their reciprocal destinies across the table of the Bible, which neither of them ultimately defines, but which defines them both Chapter Fourteen, "What Can Jews and Christians Hope for When They Meet?," shows how Jews remain "other" and "strangers" in the midst of the earth, yet may discover deep commonality with Christians. Through dialogue, both Jews and Christians may and should come to better understand themselves in ways they could not otherwise access. This renewed dialogue promises an unforeseen and salutary fecundity. The chapter is a treasure trove, suggesting concepts germane to my research including: destiny, reciprocity, convergences, discernment, dialogue,
commonality, breakthroughs, elder/younger brothers, partnership, mutual recognition, legacy/common patrimony. Chapter Fifteen, "What Do Christian-Jewish Encounters Mean as Civilizations Clash?" explores the interwoven/converging destines of Israel and the Church through considering five questions: (1) What do Jews and Christians have in common that may justify their getting closer to each other, and becoming allies?; (2) As jews and Christians acknowledge what they have in common, wil their respecgtive characteristics and identities be threatened by such comanionship?; (3) Does this common principle mean anthing for humankind as a whole? (4) Do both Jews and Christians become better able, when tey get together, to carry out their specific mission with regard to the rest of humankind?' and (5) Finally, if such caring for the world does not reflect any ambition to conquer or dominate, how can this universalism express itself completely?

Lustiger handles these enormous questions with seemingly effortless grace. He states clearly that God's call upopn Jews and Christians preludes their failing to dialogue and work together. The world needs Jews and CHrstians to do this, and God commands it

The book spans nearly thirty years of the author's life while exhibiting unwavering unity. What strikes me most is his unabashed confidence in the election of Israel, and how the Church's destiny is derivative from and contingent upon Israel inheriting what the Father promised. This she does through God's grace in Christ. Such a perspective is exceedingly hard to find elsewhere.

Having read it carefully, still I need to step back and ponder this book for quite some time. At first blush he seems to accord to Israel more of a free pass than seems warranted. However, before rejecting his perspective, one must note that he sees Jesus from within Jewish space, rather than as an outside option which Israel must either accept or reject. Jesus remains for Lustiger ever and always the Messiah of Israel, and only therefore the Savior of the nations. To say the least, this is not a view foreign to the Bible, although it is indeed foreign to many who claim the Bible as their authority. Lustiger challenges me to reexamine my communal location as I contemplate the mystery of Israel and of God's grace in Messiah, for so much hangs upon that social location.

This is a small book requiring of all of us a big look not only at itself, but also at the issues it considers, and most of all, at our own presuppositions and social location and how thse influence, or even determine our theological perspectives and conclusions.

The author, Alon Peled, examines the question as to whether or not subjected ethnic groups (i.e. 'trojan horses') can be trusted in the army. Peled briefly cites the recent Yugoslavia conflict and Czechoslovakia in 1938 as two well-known examples of successful trojan horses. The Yugoslav army disintegrated and was turned into a Serb ethnic militia, and the Czechoslovak gov't stood down under the combined threat of hostile German invasion and internal subversion by Sudeten Germans. In the last section, he describes the horrendous ethnic genocide in Rwanda that could have been instantly quelled had Rwanda had a truly ethnically integrated military. With this unnerving history, can subjected ethnic groups ever be trusted with weapons in their nation's army?

Peled looks at the three historical cases of ethic integration or disintegration within the military. First, he examines how South Africa, even when under the severest terms of apartheid, managed to slowly but successfully integrate first coloreds, then Indians, and finally blacks into the SADF. This highly-sensitive political issue in apartheid South Africa was handled very deftly by its leaders. Singapore, on the other hand, started with a military almost purely staffed by an ethnic minority and wound up almost entirely excluding them (Muslim Malays) within Singapore's defense establishment. And finally, Israel has integrated some ethnic groups (e.g. Druze, Christian Arabs) while continuing to exclude others (i.e. Muslim Arabs).

Peled defines two types of integration, horizontal and vertical. Horizontal integration is basically the increase in number the number of ethnic enlisted soldiers, while vertical integration is the promotion of ethnic soldiers into positions of leadership and sensitive areas (intelligence, operations, etc.). Peled states that for ethnic recruitment to be successful that horizontal integration must be followed by vertical integration. If not, the subjected ethnic group feels used, remains alienated, and represents a continued threat to internal security.

This is an important book on a rarely discussed, but highly important, topic. The description of the defense organizations in South Africa, Singapore, and Israel were quite interesting in and of themselves, while the ethnic integration/exclusion process was fascinating. (Ethnic leaders often negotiate the recruitment of their youth with the dominant gov't leaders.) I enjoyed this book, but more importantly, I believe that military manpower specialists will find this book an excellent introduction to the issue.

Alon Peled, a Harvard Ph.D who has achieved world-wide acclaim for his knowledge of both empirical political "events" and the theory that underlies these events, has written a truly brilliant book. It is my understanding that Peled visited several foreign countries, among them Singapore and Israel (Peled himself was a decorated Israeli officer) as he wrote this book, which arose from his doctoral dissertation, written under the auspices of the late Judith Shklar, who was a genius in her own right. Peled's analysis is inspirational in its breadth, thoroughness, and mostly in the piercing insight he offers. He is razor blade brilliant, and I am sure anyone interested in international affairs, military issues, Israel, political theory or the world as a whole will benefit from it immensely. I would like to add that I once had the good fortune of meeting Dr. Peled, and I am sure that he is a man of honor and decency whose interests transcend the intellectual realm and are aimed at the greater good of our society, our children, and ultimately ourselves. I have read many books in my day, yet none are more probing, more carefully thought out, nor more brilliantly written than that of Dr. Peled. We should count ourselves fortunate to have him among us!

If the Bush Administration is seeking a real road map to peace, this should be its basis. The Palestinian/Israeli conflict is and has always been about land. Dr. Fischbach has done the world a favor by providing us the detail we need about what land was taken, and how sane and factual negotiations about its particulars provide us with a pathway out of the death and destruction of the past 50 years. Please read this book and hope our leaders do as well.

This book studies the expropriation of the property of the Palestine refugees and the compensation issues and diplomatic activity that followed. Especially interesting (to me) is the discussion of the estimates of the dollar value of these losses. It is based primarily on the records of the UN Conciliation Commission on Palestine. It should be of the highest interest to anyone with an interest in the Israel Palestine problem and how it might be resolved. I must confess that I have only started reading this book and I am not a scholar- I am a lawyer- but I highly reccomend this book.

This book takes us from the horrific events of the Holocaust to the the rebirth of the State of Israel like a phoenix from the ashes of the Nazi genocide, and the glorious victory of the Jews (many of them holocaust survivors) against 5 Arab armies.
After World War II, there were only 3 million Jews left in Europe from a pre-war population of 9 million.
Of the survivors some had lived through the horrors of the concentration camps, others had remained hidden. Most where malnourished and suffering from physical and psychological trauma.
Unwanted by the populations of the lands where they had come from, in countries like Poland and elsewhere in Eastern Europe there were pogroms against Jewish survivors returning to their homes.
The survivors were spurned by a distracted Roosevelt and despised by the British.
Palestine- the ancient Land of Israel- from where their ancestors had come, but the Arabs where determined not to have them their and the British did all they could to help the Arabs in keeping them out.
Thus came the Bricha, a heroic and clandestine operation to smuggle hundreds of thousands of Jewish holocaust survivors into the Land of Israel.
Despite overwhelming odds and the opposition of powerful forces, the State of Israel did come into being.
This book tells how the State of Israel arose from the ashes of the Holocaust.
Chapter 1 describes the horrors uncovered by the Allied forces after the liberation of the concentration and death camps in Central Europe.
Chapter 2 tells of the Nazi extermination camps in Poland and the allied inaction in doing anything to prevent the Nazi genocide.
In the last year of the war, as the horrors of Auschwitz became common knowledge, the Jewish Agency leadership made urgent appeals to the western Allies to bomb the approaches to the death camps. There had been bases captured in Italy which could be used. Although it was unlikely that the bombings could put the camps out of commission, such attacks would necessarily slow down the massive deportations.
The Allies responded that the cost where too great and the diversions too costly.
The horrors of the Nazi mass murders are starkly revealed in the early chapters of this book.
The following three chapters are about the resistance by Jews to Nazism, most of the resistance being led by Zionist movements; Christian efforts to rescue Jews during the Holocaust and the Nuremberg Trials.
Chapters Six and Seven tell of the Bricha and Displaced Persons Camps and "illegal" immigration of Jews to Palestine.
During World War II the British had turned away tens of thousands of Jews from Palestine, who were fleeing from the Nazi terror.

Due to British actions refugee ships such as the Patria and the Struma sank in the Mediterranean killing thousands of Jewish men, women and children aboard.
After World War II, the British government did all they could to prevent Jews entering the Land of Israel and we read of the obsessive hatred of Ernest Bevin for Jews and Zionism.
Richard Crossman interviewed Bevin and reported on Bevin's remarks which reflected a world view corresponding to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. That world Jewry had orchestrated an international conspiracy against Britain and Bevin.
From Bevin's tirade Crossman concluded correctly that Bevin was insane on the issue.
Bevin had also declared that Britain would look after Arab interests in Palestine and that he wished all Jews would be "gathered up into the bosom of Abraham".

There were still voices of conscience in Britain.
Member of Parliament Eleanor Rathbone during a debate in the House of Commons on December 14 1943 declared that "If it had not been for the restrictions placed on immigration to Palestine in the prewar years, even before the Palestinian White Paper, imposed partly for economic reasons and partly to please the Arabs, tens of thousands of men, women and children who now lie in bloody graves would long ago have been among their kindred in Palestine.
That is something I shall never forget and I hope the House will never forget it either."
The book continues with the struggle of the Jews against the British and Arabs in the Palestine Mandate, the diplomatic efforts around partition and the support for the rebirth of Israel by Harry Truman, the partition vote of November 1947 and the resulting invasion of the fledgling Jewish State by 5 Arab armies:
Secretary of the Arab League Azzam Pasha thundered that "There will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre that will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades".
Meanwhile Britain turned over forts and weapons to the Arabs before pulling out of Palestine, threatened intervention during the War of Independence against Israel, and tried to block Israel's entry into the United Nations.
Israel was reborn despite the efforts of Britain and the Arabs.

This book takes you into the death camps of Europe during the end of World War II. Abram Sachar describes vividly the realities of each camp, and the hardships the Jewish people went through. It is perplexing that no country in Europe, and in general no people group, attempted to assist in stopping the German's brutality. However, he goes on to describe how the nation of Israel was created, out from the ashes of this war. This land was the only refuge left for a people that were not welcomed by any nation after the war.

General, your tank is a powerful vehicle
It tramples the forest, it crushes a hundred men.
But it has one flaw:
It requires a driver.

General, your bomber is strong.
It flies faster than the storm, it loads more than an elephant.
But it has one flaw:
It requires a mechanic.

General, man is very useful.
He knows how to fly, he knows how to murder.
But he has one flaw:
He knows how to think.
(Bertolt Brecht)

Dissenting voices in a sea of senseless assent. Thankfully these voices keep increasing in number, not to mention becoming louder and more persistent as time goes by.

This book is a collection of letters written by the "soldiers of conscience" explaining the reasons behind their refusal to serve in the Occupied Territories. What is prevalent in those letters is not excessive sentimentality -as possibly their polemics would have it- but rather plain old common sense. This, together with the fact that most of them are written with such outstanding skill is why it's so hard for anyone to argue against them.

Israeli soldiers opposed to the horrendous Nazi-style, Zionist occupation of the Gaza ghetto and the West Bank speak out in this moving testimony to the power of conscience over surrender to military orders. One of these objectors writes, "I am a soldier in the Israeli army, imprisoned for refusal to take part in repression, arising from a sense that it is out of the question to be a Jew, the son of a people of refugees and yet repress a people of refugees."

The book's editor and compiler, Peretz Kidron, is himself a "refusenik." This book is powerful, first-hand documentary testimony of what the US media will not report in any depth: that Israeli war crimes against Palestinian civilians are so widespread and systematic that some Israeli troops--cognizant of the mandate of Nuremberg-- have refused to take part in them.

[The reviewer is the co-author of "The Israeli Holocaust Against the Palestinians]

Zevit has written his magnum opus. His avowed thesis is to establish the ethnic "particularity"(a new ethnic group in Canaan) of a people. He views the conclusions of some archaeologists such as Broshi, Finklestein and others as being inadequate. The central issue being: are there "ethnic markers" clearly present, as revealed in the work of Syro-palestinian archaeologists, demonstrating the distinctiveness of the tribes of Israel.

Zevit claims his method surpasses the work of those who affirm there are no ethnic markers...those scholars who say these people were Canaanites. Zevit is clear on his point of departure. He says"...this study proceeds from the premise...that the dominant ethnic group in Cisjordanian, Iron Age Palestine was not descended from its late Bronze inhabitants."

Using the notably awkward term "parallactic" to describe his method he offers detailed analysis of cult objects/places and texts which to his mind reveal the sure distinctiveness of the worshipers of Yahweh. He does not hestitate to provide clear opinions. For example, he describes Donald Redford's work and concludes, "Barring some significant new discovery, his book closes the door on those seeking to find evidence of Israel in Egypt...". Dr. J. K. Hoffmeier please note! Even so, and I think curiously, he refers to "...Israelites, those who underwent the Egyptian experience...". Maybe I am missing something here.

Who were they if not Canaanites? Here Zevit is a bit vague seeming to group Shasu, Habiru and others as the coterie of Yahwists. My continued study of this significant work may prove me to be wrong on this point.

The Religions of Ancient Israel, A Synthesis of Parallactic Approaches is encylopedic in scope. It strikes this writer as a most useful, even necessary, complement to David Noel Freedman's, Anchor Bible Dictionary which is, of course an encylopedia not a dictionary. Lastly, the reader of this review must ask, "Yes...but did Zevit make his case? Do the cult artifacts sustain the idea of "ethnic particularity" and are they sufficient
in their totality?

Good people can disagree. Zevit is a careful and meticulous scholar. Given his thesis, much, much more needs to be added to his discussion of worldview and ethnicity. As William Dever announced
two years ago in a BAS meeting this study " is monumental." Zevit maintains his major thesis
while noting additional work needs to be done!

Rev 2-26-2002 psb

Recently taking a biblical archaeology course with Dr. Zevit, and referring frequenlty to this book for further understanding, I found this book easy to read, well organized and insightful. I recommend it highly to anyone interested in learning more about ancient Israel.

One of the best historical fictions I have ever read. The author has clearly done his homework on the historical part. As for the fictional part, there's an interesting and unexpected twist. I strongly recommend this book.

One of the best historical fictions I have ever read. The author has clearly done his homework on the historical part. As for the fictional part, there's an interesting and unexpected twist. I strongly recommend this book.

This book is a historical survey of the Jewish people's returning to the Land of Israel. It begins in the Biblical Age, moves through the Rabbinic Period, considers Life in the Diaspora, presents an overview of Zionism,and concludes with a look at Israeli Statehood and beyond this.
This is an extremely clear and well- written work. It is a labor of love in which there is expressed an understanding and sympathy for the Jewish people's special connection with the Land of Israel.
Each chapter of the work begins by looking at the subject discussed in it from the perspective of the present. The aim of Rabbi Siegel in doing this is to provide readers with perspective, and depth.
He makes it clear that there are many perplexities in the story. He writes,

"While the land of Israel has always been central to the Jews, never has it been a simple, well understood relationship. From the moment the first Jew arrived over three thousand five hundred years ago until today, internal debate raged on a wide number of issues. whether one had to live in the Land, the nature of the Jewish ownership of Israel, the demands made on the people by the Land etc."

This is an important work that can be of great help to readers in understanding the significance of the land of Israel to the Jewish people.

Why did the Jews, as a people return to Israel?...Now, forty years after the founding of the modern State of Israel, and ninety years after the organization of the Zionist national movement, the question, often accompanied by wonder, remains.

We seek to explore the story of a relationship to an idea, the idea of returning. It is a history of a nation struggling with itself, moving far from the Land while carrying it along, constantly returning, constantly leaving, and always looking backward and forward at the same time, finding the Land of Israel at both extremes. It is a history unfinished, clearly still being written. Ironically, the current chapter seems to be seeking its predecessors, for progress is again predicated on knowing where one has been. This is, then, an effort at tracing the deepest roots of the modern return, both for those who would understandond for those who would take part.
--- from book's back cover

This book does not get caught up in details of the Arab-Israeli conflict, but is an overview that chronicles the trail of failed peace initiatives, identifies who the individual and group players are, and contends that the Zionist perspective(i.e., pro-Israeli land rights) is justifiable from the view of history, morality, and international law. Surprisingly, the author accomplishes this through a question-and-answer format. The book ends with a critique of our day's most talked about land-for-peace plan: The Road Map to Peace in the Middle East, which is sponsored by the 'Quartet' (EU, UN, USA, Russia), embraced by Arabs, and legitimized and not yet discarded by Israel. Notably missing from this book is the biblical argument for legitimacy of Israeli land rights--that's just not the message of this book. But it is the Bible's consistent position against the land-for-peace approach that is my reason for saying the book title is just wrong in saying 'Roadmap to Nowhere,' since really it is a roadmap to "somewhere": Armageddon! ("I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted MY land."--Joel 3:2 and so on). After the underappreciated but watershed Israeli elections of this week, the book is somewhat now just an argument for arguments sake, as the last significant restraining opposition to the land-for-peace/2-state track (Israel's Likud party and its supporters) has died as evidenced by the populace overwhelmingly electing into office land giveaway parties, no longer offering popular resistance to the the Left/Moderate self-destructive approach. Nonetheless, this book is still helpful for informing, persuading, and strengthening individuals who want to be at peace with God or with their conscience about this issue that actually amounts to the question of destruction of a nation, and not just any nation, but one the Bible calls the apple of God's eye. It is the issue for our time and the issue the entire community of nations is obsessed with, thus for its import and its comprehensiveness in simplicity, I recommend this book.

This book supplies some fundamental facts that are often overlooked. It makes sense to get this book just to use it to judge other works on the topic.

Here is a simple example. Many people know that hundreds of thousands of Jews fled or were expelled from Arab lands in the past several decades. But was this a response to Israel becoming a nation? No. More than 1000 Jews were killed in anti-Jewish rioting in Baghdad, Tripoli, Aden, Aleppo, Damascus, Oudja, Djerade, and Cairo in the decade prior to Israel becoming a state. It wasn't Israel that caused this. As Ben-Gad explains, it was the winning of national independence by Arab countries. For a couple of generations prior to that, European rule had protected the Jews to some extent.

The author summarizes the mistakes of the failed Oslo peace process. The biggest problem was legitimizing Arafat as a partner for peace and imposing his rule over Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza. Although Arafat talked about his evil intentions all the time, this was ignored. Israeli negotiators were inexperienced, were driven by fantasy rather than reality, were too trusting (they assumed that both sides wanted peace), and did not consult the Israeli army. A very small majority of legislators passed the agreement to sign the Oslo accords, allowing this to suffice was a procedural error in retrospect. Arafat was incorrectly considered as someone who could crush Arab opposition to peace: using a dictator in such a role would have been a moral and strategic error even had Arafat wanted to do all this. The agreements made a mockery of Israeli laws and red lines, giving many of Israel's opponents the feeling that they could get Israel to agree to absolutely anything.

There were other big problems with Oslo. One was that once the agreement was signed, Israeli negotiators went far beyond anything that the Israeli public or voters would have agreed to. This could not have happened had the main issues been decided at once, rather than left to the end of the process. Worst of all, Israel was expected to keep its promises while the Arab side was not required to.

To his credit, Ben-Gad notes that the Israeli settlements promote peace. There can be no peace if we all agree to something so arbitrary as to ban Jews from the West Bank while allowing Arabs to live in Israel proper. A couple of hundred thousand Jews live in the West Bank, and by doing so, they legitimize the right of over a million Arabs to live in Israel proper. The author points out that the West Bank is not occupied territory but disputed territory.

What about the proposed "Road Map" for peace? The author has some concerns about it. The biggest is that it will not stop incitement against Israel. That alone will preclude peace.

I'll mention a few of the author's other concerns with the Road Map. It will reward terrorists and give them a state from which to operate. It will freeze West Bank Jewish settlements but not West Bank Arab ones. That will concede the West Bank to the Arabs: if Jews do not have the right to move there, they certainly do not have the right to be sovereign there. With all these concessions, the issues left to the end will be about how the division of Jerusalem is to be accomplished and how many Arabs will be allowed into Israel (confirming that the purpose of a new Arab state is to serve not as a place Arabs can move into but one Arabs can use to destroy Israel). In addition, the Road Map will use international conferences to put pressure on Israel to make immoral and counterproductive concessions to terrorists.

Many on both sides of this conflict regard it to be about the fate of Israel, which both sides see as very important. I think both sides are wrong. Israel is not all that important, after all, it is small. But it would set a dangerous precedent for everyone on this planet for the international community to arbitrarily give in to irredentist terrorist demands to deprive Asian Jews of their rights to life, liberty, and property.

I recommend this book.