Israel Books

This is a wonderful, simple book about a young girl's visit to Israel with her family. Her parents give a bit of background on each point of interest. Short and to the point, I found it a great book for children 3-6 yrs. old.

At long last, an authoritative book on garden ornament in America! Barbara Israel delivers a beautiful tome with scholarly punch in her Antique Garden Ornament: Two Centuries of American Taste. Many books exist on gardens and landscape history, but none addresses the issue of the statues, fountains, and furniture used within them with such depth and clarity as Ms. Israel. In addition to the chapters themselves, the catalogue of objects in the back of the book and the list of makers provide a greatly needed reference for this growing field. I highly recommend this book.

A remarkable work, covering a little-known aspect of the Middle East conflict. The late Sami Mari, Professor of Education at Israel's Haifa University, wrote widely on the education of Palestinians in Israel. In this book, which sums up a lifetime of research, he authoritatively documents and analyses the way in which lack of funding and political interference lead to an educational system which perpetuates and deepens the discrimination againnst Israel's Palestinian citizens.

Arab states have been at war with Israel for quite a while. And part of that war effort is an economic boycott.

As the author explains, U.S. regulations prohibit American companies from complying in such a boycott (by agreeing to or actually refusing to do business in Israel or with a blacklisted company, agreeing to or actually discriminating against other persons based on race, religion, sex, national origin, or nationality, agreeing to or actually furnishing information about business relationships in Israel or with blacklisted companies, or agreeing to or actually furnishing information about the race, religion, sex, or national origin of another person). The intent of these regulations is to prevent U.S. firms from being used to implement foreign policies of other nations which run counter to U.S. policy.

That does not mean that we don't get requests from Arab countries to break the law here! We got over 1200 of them in the year 2006 alone. Five were from Egypt, and three were from Jordan, nations which have peace treaties with Israel.

Enforcement of the boycott is sporadic, and enforcement of U.S. anti-boycott legislation does not appear to be too strong either: less than a hundred thousand dollars were collected by the U.S. in fines of nine companies in 2006, and less than sixty thousand dollars in fines for five cases in 2005.

Still, I think the boycotts are not going to help the cause of peace and cooperation. In addition, I think we Americans ought to make a strong effort to get nations to stop excluding Israel from international events. Israel has never been a participant in the Mediterranean Games, and I think that's an area where nations could show that they are not averse to peace by simply treating Israelis as human beings.

I recommend this report.

Though its intended audience is "young adult", even for adults this book serves as an excellent and balanced introduction to the difficult and complex events which have filled the 20th century in Israel/Palestine. Photos, maps, and a coherent narrative make this a must-read for anyone trying to grasp the roots of the current conflict, especially for those just beginning to go beyond the headlines to attempt a fuller understanding of the region and its peoples.
I rated it "five stars" for its conciseness, completeness, and even-handedness. Note that it was designed for classroom use, is only 64 pages, but nonetheless is packed with information.

This scholarly study by Elie Podeh of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem analyses Israeli history textbooks’ presentations of the Arab-Israeli conflict and their depiction of Arab people. He contends that, “biased Israeli and Arab textbooks have fostered and maintained a kind of silent conflict between the parties. ... my hope is that better textbooks - free of bias, prejudice, inaccuracies, and omissions - on both sides of the conflict will result in a better atmosphere, congenial to the successful consummation of peaceful relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors.”

His Chapter 1 presents a rationale for studying school textbooks. Chapter 2 investigates the changing attitudes in Israel’s education system towards teaching the Arab-Israeli conflict. Chapter 3 presents case studies of textbook coverage of various subjects and historical periods: Islam, the Ottoman Empire, the first and second Aliyah periods (1882-1902 and 1902-14), the First World War agreements, the British mandate in Palestine (1920-48), the 1947-48 war, the 1956 war, the 1967 war, the post-1967 period and the Arab minority in Israel. He notes that even text books published in 1999 printed maps of late 19th-century Palestine that omitted all the many towns inhabited by Arabs!

The book charts Israeli educationalists’ growing awareness that Zionist ideology distorts the history of Israel and of its relations with its neighbours. The 1967 war, Israel’s war against Lebanon in 1982, the Palestinian Intifada of 1988 and the peace process of the 1990s, all forced many Israelis to view the Arab-Israeli conflict more even-handedly and improved the quality of the textbooks. The newer textbooks present more self-critical accounts, instead of projecting all evil onto Arab people, and allow that self-criticism is a source of strength not a sign of weakness.

Similar studies in other countries have shown that textbooks of Empire demonise and distort colonised nations and their liberation movements, that US textbooks demonise communism, and that Irish textbooks demonise the other guy’s religion.

Hopefully, this fine book will achieve the author’s aim of assisting the development of peaceful relations between Israel and its neighbours.

The 2003 edition of AEHL is an excellent reference to all the major excavation sites in Israel! Compared to the 4- or 5-volume set, "Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land" (& its "New..." edition), which is hard to find & expensive, AEHL is a tremendously beneficial aid to students who just need the basic facts to help them understand what's been revealed in this territory.

It not only acts as a reference work for well-known sites like Jerusalem & Lachish, but also introduces readers to obscure ones like Ras (a small site SW of Jerusalem where farmers built terraces for their crops during the Iron Age) & distinguishes 2 places named Socoh (one in northern Judah that functioned as an administrative fortress, & another in southern Judah that was home to a family of scribes).

Each of the classifications discusses its excavation history, its relevance to the Biblical record, & important artifacts discovered there such as the Gezer calendar, the Tel Dan "House of David" stela, & the Siloam Tunnel inscription.

More than 300 black/white photos, maps, & drawings appear with their respective listings, & besides the sites, there are also categories for peoples (e.g., Canaanites, Hittites, etc.), Roads, Seals; in fact, you could read sections on Agriculture, Building Materials, Churches, Cult Objects, Housing, Lamps, Metals, Money, Musical Instruments, Pottery, Temples, Time, Transport, Weapons & Warfare, Weights & Measures as if they were chapters of a book!

Unlike books written from a limited perspective, or magazines/journals edited by a common-bias staff, AEHL maintains its objectivity by presenting over 800 entries studied by more than 100 experts in their respective fields. You will not find a better summary of this material in compact, paper format elsewhere.

My mom is the author of this book. Its a great read and not too technical - very interesting. If you are interested in archaeology, go ahead and try it, you won't be dissapointed. Don't be daunted by its "complicated" lingo... you'll fall in step with it right away.

This is an excellent guide to the archeology of Israel. However the volume chronicles the work and findings only until 1974. It does not for instance cover the controversial destruction of antiquities that has been done by the Islamic Wafq on the Temple Mount, an archaeological scandal of the first- rank which for political reasons has not been given sufficient media coverage. This volume does however record the story of some of the most world- renowned archaeological discoveries, including that of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

the trickester is doing it to us again...there's a major war trying to start because the sons of Ishmeal are wanting to follow the word of Yah by allowing the House of Isreal to come home....and the Isreali people in control of the Holy City Jersulem (not from the tribe of Yudah) so therefore not even jew and may not even be of the children of father Yacob=Isreal... so if there where no uniforms no way to tell one from another....then the word of Yah would be easier to do...because the House of Isreal scattered by Yah for being disobident into these same lands that are willing to go to war for them lands that in effect do belong to them... so no uniforms then the peolpe children of Isreal can and will return home.... the false jew can not stop the word....but if we took the war from the evil one and got the uniforms taking away there would be no blood-shed any comment get back to me Ira Pray for the peace of Jerusalem... whats that you say then where are the true Isrealites....a good number of us are here In the USA BROUGHT HERE as slaves...and still under all the same task masters only the type of whip has changed....