Israel Books

This book is a collection of nine articles that deal with the treatment of minorities in Arab lands in general, and the expulsion of Jews in particular.

Mordechai Nisan begins with an discussion of the treatment of minorities by the Islamic world. That includes Jews, Copts, Armenians, Kurds, Maronites, Assyrians, and Berbers. He also asks about the status of those people who say they have been represented by Arafat. Such people have been at the forefront of the fight against minority rights. Are they really a minority as well?

Next, Walid Phares gives a report on Middle Eastern Christians. He includes the ones in southern Sudan. It's similar in most places: the Christians are vanishing from the region. And there is a systematic, general, and political abandonment of these Christians by the West.

Bat Ye'or talks about the role of dhimmitude in the exodus of the Jews from Arab countries. Dhimmis have no right to life, but must purchase it by humbly paying "protection money" to real people. Bat Ye'or reminds us that dhimmis are not slaves. They can and do earn money. That enables them to pay taxes. But they lack rights. For example, they are not permitted to defend themselves from physical attack by Muslims or testify against Muslims in court.

The fact that dhimmis are not slaves does suggest a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Israel, by paying sufficient protection money and humbly apologizing for existing, might be tolerated as a dhimmi nation. And then again, it still might not be tolerated.

Bat Ye'or reminds us that the Muslim world would be better off were it to denounce dhimmitude. Otherwise, Muslim relations with other nations will be adversely affected, as will interactions of Muslims and non-Muslims in the West.

Harold Troper tells about the campaign to rescue Syrian Jews, and the role of the Canadian Jewish community in achieving this.

Ya'akov Meran talks about Arab reactions to the claims of expelled Jews. One point he makes is that there have been multiple Arab requests for refugees from Israel to be paid back in land: that is, asking that Israel cede, say, a third of its land given that a third of the population in 1948 was expelled. He reminds us that 35,000 Jews were expelled from Libya, which at the time had a total population of less than one person per square kilometer. By Arab reasoning, Jews would be owed over 35,000 square kilometers from Libya alone (it gets more interesting when we add in nations such as Yemen or Iraq). The entire West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Golan is about 5,000 square kilometers.

Malka Hillel Shulewitz and Raphael Israeli argue for resettling the Arab refugees who are at present in refugee camps. Given how quickly large numbers of refugees have been resettled in other population exchanges, there is no excuse to abide by Arab demands to keep the refugees in camps. In addition, the camps are breeding grounds for terrorism.

Avi Beker shows how UN and UNRWA obstructionism has made the Arab refugee situation much worse. Yehuda Dominitz describes the absorption of 600,000 Jewish immigrants from Arab lands into Israel. And Pnina Morag-Talmon explains how all these immigrants have been integrated into Israeli society.

What are we to conclude from all this? I think the book suggests that refugees need to be integrated into society and not used as shock troops to fight irredentist wars.

This book tells the disturbing story of the unprovoked expulsion and ethnic cleansing of the Jewish populations from the Arab countries in the Middle East surrounding the re-birth of the State of Israel in 1948.

The book is extremely disturbing one two counts. On one count that such an ethnic cleansing and racial segregation of the Jews could be allowed to occur in the modern day, (especially so soon after the Second World War & the Holocaust), and in another regard that such a forced expulsion could be so soon forgotten and overlooked by the International Community & it's media, which have both clearly chosen to turn a blind eye to this issue.

Any accurate assessment of the Arab-Israeli conflict is indeed incomplete without addressing this very troubling subject.

Whilst some readers will inevitably draw an initial correlation to the Palestinian refugee issue, it only becomes too apparent that there are some fundamental differences.

With appropriate references to the brutal Iraqi (1941), Egyptian (1945), and Libyan (1945) pogroms inspired by local Arab movements extremely sympathetic to the Nazis/Final Solution, together with the anti-Jewish riots in Aleppo and Aden of 1947, the writer correctly asks how these events could in any way '...be attributed to the State of Israel in 1948 ?'.

As the book unfolds one is also faced with the cold, callous indictment that this forcible expulsion of the Jews, effectively made the Arab worl Judenrein. The Jews,- whose families had inhabited these Arab lands for thousands of years, leaving with only the possessions that they could carry, being robbed of homes, businesses, and all their worldly possessions by their Arab `overlords'.

One reads the moving story of the forcible ethnic cleansing of Jews from the Arab nations, not because of war but due to unregulated racial hatred and gratuitously cruel Arab policies. The de-humanising policy of dhimmitude towards Jews and Christians, treated in so many ways as second class/inferior citizens in Islamic society, also receiving a commendable examination.

One is left with an understanding of the glaring dissimilarity to the Palestinian refugee issue, where the vast number of Palestinian refugees, (composed primarily of Arab migrant workers who had been living in the 'Palestine' area as little as two years prior to Israel's creation in 1948 & most of whom left their homes of their own accord) fled their homes leaving of their own accord, hoping to return when the Arab military had completed the genocide of the Jewish people from their midst in 'Palestine' too.

(Claim of Dispossession: Jewish Land Settlement and the Arabs, 1878-1948 by Aryeh Avneri is another excellent work on this issue).

It is clear from this excellent book that the ability of the Arab world to re-settle these Palestinian refugees, is indisputable when one considers their more than sufficient geographical areas (fully one tenth of the world's land mass), together with their vast economic wealth. An outlined ability only matched by an unwillingness which instead saw the Arab world purposely deciding to use these refugees as a political anti-Israeli weapon within the UN and through the media to serve their own purposes towards their agenda of eventually eradicating the Jewish state in it's entirety.

The book showing that over the years this policy has been discovered to be a more effective way of swaying world opinion, with the Arabs having now adopted humanitarian terminology in support of the `demands' of the Palestinians, for circumstances that they themselves largely created but for which they entirely blame the Israelis.

This is a remarkable study of how the Jewish presence in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen, a presence that preceded the rise of Islam by over a thousand years, has virtually disappeared through forcible expulsion. An estimated number of only some 20,000 Jews now remaining in the North African area.

The story of a forgotten Jewish people ignored by the World and the media. Readers will be able to draw their own conclusions as to why this is so. Very highly recommended, indeed absolutely required reading on the Middle East.

Seeing the tittle and cover of the book, made me wonder: "The Forgotten Millions"- Which millions? Is it about millions in money value? Is it millions of people?

As I glanced at the index, and some of the articles, I found out it was about all the millions- It is the millions of property and money which the Arab Jews have lost as they had to leave their "mother countries" (which did not act in a very motherly manner to its Jewish people). The thousands of Arab Jews which had to leave to Israel/Palestine just because they were Jewish. This reminded me of other expulsions and ethnic cleansing several years earlier (1940's).

This is the story, of the Jewish refugees and their children living now in Israel- altogether millions.

One cannot be blind to see the similarity to the Palestinian case. This brings the editor, Malka Hillel Shulewitz, to conclude that peace talks between Israel and Arab countries should include the compensation of the Jewish refuge as well. I see this as the weaker part of the book, for it is too bluntly political.

However, the main importance of the book is to show the complexity of the Middle East situation. In recent years, a load of books and articles have been published by (what are called) "New Historians". These "New Historians" shatter the Zionist myth, and give us a different Narrative; the narrative of the Palestinians forced out of their land and oppressed by Jewish society in Israel.

I do not wish to argue with this narrative, for I am sure a war causes much sorrow to both sides and mostly to the ones that lost. This Forgotten Millions tells us one of the stories of the Arab-Jewish conflict, from a different angle- the forced exodus of Jews.

This does not under estimate the loss and sorrow of Arabs; it adds color to the "Black and White" story, which dominates the public discourse. Indeed, these millions of Jews have been forgotten.

Their hard time and absorption in the new land was not easy at all, and yet, they were able to re-establish their lives. But again, this might be a good platform for dispute between "Narratives"...

In ýJews and Arabsý (New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1975), the author Albert Memmi, a Sephardic Jew, observed the following: ý ..The head of an Arab state recently made us a generous and novel offer. ýReturn,ý he told us, ýreturn to the land of your birth! Are you not Arabs like us- Arab Jews?ý. What lovely words! We draw a secret nostalgia from them: yes, indeed we were Arab Jews- in our habits, our culture, our music, our menus. I have written enough about it. But must one remain an Arab Jew if, in return, one has to tremble for oneýs life and the future of oneýs children and always be denied a normal existence? There are, it is true, the Arab Christians. What is not sufficiently known is the shamefully exorbitant price that they must pay for the right merely to survive.ý

ýThe Forgotten Millionsý is a compendium of nine thoughtfully interwoven essays which present a compelling sociopolitical discussion of the unheralded expulsion of ~ 850,000 Jews from Arab North Africa and the Middle East between 1941 and 1976. The presentation by Yaýakov Meron debunks a widely held misconception that this Jewish exodus resulted solely from the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. After documenting the brutal Iraqi (1941), Egyptian (1945), and Libyan (1945) pogroms inspired by local Arab movements sympathetic to the Nazis, as well as the anti-Jewish riots in Aleppo and Aden of 1947, the author rightfully asks how these events could ý..be attributed to the State [of Israel] in 1948?ý.

Core issues addressed effectively in Parts 2 and 3 (essays 5 through 9) include: the Jews unprovoked forced expulsion; their de facto population exchange with Arab Palestinians displaced primarily by the Arab invasion of Israel in 1948; and the stark contrast between the rapid, but difficult integration of ~650,000 Sephardic Jewish refugees from Arab lands into a resource poor Israel, relative to the Arab worlds ongoing refusal to permanently re-settle the original 540,000 Palestinian Arab refugees (and their descendants) from the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict, despite more than sufficient geographical (fully one tenth of the worldýs land mass), and economic (i.e., Arabian peninsula, Iraqi, and Libyan oil wealth) resources. In sum, the essays in Parts 2 and 3 clearly obligate objective international policy makers and diplomats to re-address the validity of the current Palestinian Authority claim to a ýright of returný for Arab Palestinians to the pre-1967 borders of Israel.

The earlier essays in Part 1 introduce key thematic elements that support the presentations in Parts 2 and 3. Bat Yeýor highlights how the post-colonial resurgence of traditional Islamic oppression (i.e., ýdhimmitudeý) of Jews and Christians intensified following the creation of Israel, as the liberation of an indigenous dhimmi people (i.e., the Jews) within its historic homeland was viewed as a ýNaqbahý (ýCatastropheý) not only by Arab Palestinians, but by the Islamic Arab world at large. Walid Phares summarizes how the Arab world, already Judenrein, has become progressively Christianrein as well since the end of World War II.

Ultimately, it is this widespread, brutal religious intolerance of non-Muslims in the Arab world that must be addressed and ameliorated by the international community to achieve a long term peaceful settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict. As a specific example, the international community should compel a ýmoderateý Arab state, Jordan, to repeal immediately an unconscionable existing law that actively sanctions the notion of Judenrein (i.e., Feb. 6, 1954, Section 3 [3] of the Jordanian Nationality Law, prohibiting an Jew from becoming a Jordanian citizen, which is still in effect). It is perhaps an ironic ray of hope that dehumanizing, repressive laws such as The Jordanian Nationality Law, are sharply contrasted by the nearby legal status of 1 million permanent Arab Muslim citizens currently living within the pre-1967 borders of Israel.

Following the creation of the State of Israel over 800 000 Jews were expelled from Arab lands where they had lived for centuries. Today there are virtually no Jews remaining in Arab lands. The Jews from Arab lands and their descendants constitute nearly 45 percent of the Israeli population. This book, with chapters by various authors, recounts and explains the cruel treatment of non-Muslim minority groups throughout Arab lands historically, the expulsion of the Jews from Arab lands, its implications, and the subsequent resettlement of the majority of these refugees in Israel.
The first four chapters describe the predicament of minorities, such as Jews and Christains, in the middle east under Islam. Of particular interest is a chapter by Bat Ye'or on the treatment of Jews and Christians (dhimmis) under Islam. There has historically existed systematic, deeply entrenched and stringently enforced legal, religious, economic and social programmes of discrimination against and humiliation of Jews and Christians who have refused to convert to Islam. Another chapter here describes the predicament of Christians who have suffered from massacres and genocide in such countries as Iraq, Egypt, Lebanon, Sudan, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The following section devotes three chapters to the legal and global aspects of the expulsion. The first chapter describes the expulsion as it occurred in Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Egypt and Algeria. This expulsion is compared to the predicament of the Palestinian refugees of the Israeli War of Independence, and the relevance of the Jewish expulsion to the claims of the Palestinians is discussed.
The next section devotes two chapters to describing in some detail the absorption and integration of the Jews from Arab lands into Israel, their accomplishments and trials.
The book includes four Appendices. The first is the findings of the Tribunal relating to the claims of the Jews from Arab lands, by Justice Arthur J.Goldberg, concluding that the violation of the personal and property rights of the Jews from Arab lands should be acknowledged by Arab states and fair compensation rendered. The second appendix includes the evidence of four witnesses before the Tribunal. The accounts (such as that of a girl from Baghdad who was tortured and gang-raped when she was 12 for refusing to "confess" to the Bath political party of the defence ministry that her family were spies for Israel) are frightening and moving.
Thus the book offers a detailed discussion of the ancient and modern experiences of Jews from Arab lands, their achievements and tribulations, along with personal accounts. It explores many aspects of these subjects with clarity and sensitivity. This book is, in my opinion, essential reading for anyone interested in modern Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The author has put into words the answers to many of the most central questions in Jewish observance in a way rarely found in English. The source for the answers is a talmudic scholar that the author was privileged to devlop a close relationship which changed his life, a frequent occurence from such close relationships. His Rebbe is uniquely qualified to guide the searching soul of the Jew, as he has dedicated several decades of his life doing that, and comes from generations of world class Rabbis interested in the same thing.
The book is not just for the uninitiated and would benefit even the long time "Torah Jew."
Get the book, and keep Andy in mind. He is working on more things in this most important area.

This book is well-written, and easy to read in a question and answer format. The target reader is someone wanting to become an observant Jew, but is interesting and informative for even someone who is religous already. I would recommend this to anybody, from someone who knows very little about the Jewish religon, to the most observant Jew.

This is an intensely personal, well written account of the author's journey to becoming an observant Jew. The question-and-answer format makes for easy reading and Mr. Lefkowitz deals not just with the fundamental but also with the provocative questions raised in the course of his becoming observant. The colorful analogies drive the points home. While this book provides guidance to those seeking to become observant Jews, it is equally interesting to non-Jewish readers.

From Fear to Eternity is a powerful, deeply moving book of Mr. Lefkowitz's life journey. It is a book to read, to treasure, and to share with friends. I highly recommend it.

"From Fear to Eternity" is written with an ease and honesty that draws the reader in immediately. The book opens with the engrossing story of its author's return to his Jewish roots. What follows is quite literally a step-by-step guide to help soul-searching Jews reconnect to their heritage and religion, with information on everything from finding the right teacher to observing the Jewish holidays to dealing with family and friends who are resistant to a loved one's new lifestyle and outlook. Lefkowitz's book offers a great service to those who want to know and practice more but who can't quite find the path on their own.

Unbridled Cowboy is the autobiography of author Joseph B. Fussell, a free spirit who sought his own destiny in the wild American Southwest during the late 1800s. At the young age of fourteen, Joe Fussell took to the rails to escape the school and harsh authority that chafed him. He became a roving cowpuncher in Texas territory, rustling cattle, tilling land, working in stables, and hitting the road whenever wanderlust stirred. Unbridled Cowboy is filled cover to cover with riveting true tales of undercover work as a Texas Ranger, life on the railroads, and rough justice. A captivating true life narrative of the wild west.

Unbridled Cowboy, the autobiography of Joe Fussell, is well written and brings the reader a vivid and realistic portrait of the man and his life. His story telling ability paints a vivid and sometimes raw reality. He brings to life a period of American and western history from a personal point of view that was fraught with change and upheaval.

While reading I found myself sitting next to Joe and hearing him telling me his life story. The ease with which he wrote of his life makes this book an enjoyable journey with a fascinating man.

It is my pleasure to recommend "Unbridled Cowboy". As a person whose Texas Grandparents lived in the times and places of Joe Fussell, I can verify the reality of his experiences. I have heard family stories of East Texas in the 1880's up to the 1930's that explain the character and independence of these proud people.
I feel confident that if you read this book you will come away with a first person account of how the West was changing from the last frontier to modern times. Many local heroes go unnoticed. Here's your chance to walk and ride in the boots of a real cowboy, Texas Ranger, jack of all trades. Joe Fussell was a wanderer who couldn't stay put for long in any one place or trade. He did a remarkable job of self education and examination, making the best of what he had. His writing is clear and descriptive. Joe Fussell a man sure of his principals who paid his way and did unto others what they do unto you. We don't have any like him to know any more so buy this book as the next best thing.

Arguably, this is one of the finest personal reminiscences of life in the American West. Few memoirs exhibit such breadth--legitimate breadth, that is to say. The writer was a ranch hand, a railroader, a Texas Ranger, an adventurer, and a hobo. He lived through one of the most fascinating periods of American history, including the close of the frontier, the rise of the labor movement, the development of America's transcontinental railroads, and the depths of the Great Depression. He saw the Mexican Revolution from within. The credibility of his observations lie in the wealth of details he provides. His observations on Mexican "exchange rates" during the Revolution are priceless. The point is that these memoirs read with conviction; the writer does not apologize for the truth. He apologizes for some of his actions, and regrets many of them, especially his vendetta against the Mexican cowboys. Simply, the primary contribution of this manuscript is to remind us of the Real West--of human nature in a raw and often dangerous land. The fictional writer that comes to mind is Larry McMurtry. The style is wonderful for someone who claims never to have made it past fifth grade. The word choice is excellent, the descriptions riveting, and written with nouns and verbs. It is as if the author read Strunk and White.
--Alfred Runte, author of Allies of the Earth: Railroads and the Soul of Preservation

Here's the skinny. I've read thousands of books over the years. I keep a few; the rest I give away to friends or the library. This book is a keeper. Why? I will read this book many times and still be astonished by the history, this amazing man Joe Fussell, and how far this once great country of ours has deteriorated in a century.
The first thought that entered my mind on finishing this book was, "I wish there was more." The second thought was that a man like Joe Fussell would have made an incredible president. In TR's time, when a young man chose to ditch public school at age 14 because he had "itchy feet", he didn't get Ritalin stuffed down his throat--he left home to make his own way. Fussell was a man so full of common sense, intelligence and integrity that the USA would have been privileged to have someone of his ilk as their leader. But alas, with no "education" except life, he was destined to become a laborer. And labor he did.
The chapter on Fussell's adventures in Mexico as a youth are more riveting than anything Hollywood will ever turn out. His depiction of his railroad career reads like you were switching cars alongside him. Fussell is a storyteller akin to Twain. I am still amazed he avoided jail, but then it was a century ago. Different times--a wonderful time in our country. Get this book. Its a keeper.
Norman Woodworth, DVM

I have just written a brief article on "faith" for the benefit of those in AA who want to be healed of alcoholism. I cite this book and seven others as resource books that state positively just what the Creator of the heavens and the earth can do for alcoholics and anyone else who needs healing. Others have reviewed this Michael Brown book quite well. So I will just stamp it as an important, recent, scholarly affirmation of the healing power of "Yahweh that healeth thee." Its citations and resources alone warrant this as a key book on healing alcoholism--particularly because its author was delivered from that very scourge.

I just now finished reading this book. I have been reading it very, very carefully - writing notes from time to time - for close to three months!

From the cultural background of the Hebrew Scriptures to the etymological study of the Hebrew (and Greek) word translated "to heal" (and the convincing suggestion that it should be translated "to restore, make whole") to a rather full study of significant Biblical texts on the subject of healing to the discussion of healing in the NT to his "Conclusion and Reflections", Dr. Brown gives believers the necessary tools to build up faith in God's desire to miracuously heal today like Jesus did and poses a serious challange to those in the Body of Christ who hold to a cessationist view or have a distaste for the teachings, which they may have heard or read, on the subject.

This book is so important, I would suggest a careful reading of end-notes and, even though Dr. Brown suggests in his preface that the "nontechnical reader may want to skip" the sections on the root meanings of the Hebrew word "rapa", I think it is important that the nontechnical (like me) read it anyway; you may not get all of it but you will gain some basic but vital understanding (along with a section that discusses healing deities), that I believe undergirds and is foundational to all else that is said. If you do not get a satisfactory and firm grasp of what he writes in the Introduction and first chapter, I think you will miss the central significance of everything else fail to achieve the necessary firmness of understanding to strenghten any area where your faith may waver concerning God as Healer.

I cannot over emphasize that those in the Church who do not believe God is healing today should read this book. It is a challanging read and his arguments are logical and persuasive. If you are adamant and serious about what you believe, let me suggest that you gather up all your books on the cessationist view and read them alongside Israel's Divine Healer and see where it all takes you.

The book, as a whole, is not technical but it is packed with information that would be hard for any Biblical scholar or theologian to refute. If anyone knows of a book that challanges Dr. Brown, please let me know.

Brown makes it clear that the Old Testament root concept of healing was that of being restored from a broken or unhealthy state. This is a key concept and one that present (and often past) philosophers and theologians have not considered carefully. The mindset today is to contain an illness, to splice new genes into the old (new patches on old cloth?) with the conviction that the new will satisfactorily replace the old. However, there has to be, as Brown notes, restoration to God and ultimately our resurrection bodies will be like Adam and Eve's before sin overtook the world. In one sense restoration is figurative because we can't go back to Adam and Eve, but it is also literal because our "new" bodies will be recognizable when at the resurrection we are restored with God and taken out of a sinful world.

Israel's Divine Healer is the most scholarly book that I have ever read on the subject of divine healing from a Pentecostal perspective. Many books that I have read tend to focus on the individual or positive confession but Dr. Brown does neither and focuses rather on building a case that God is indeed a healer based on His revelations to Israel.

Dr. Brown further argues that God is immutable and therefore His promise of healing is the same for today. Dr. Brown's book has thousands of footnotes and is full of Scripture. For those not use to reading a book on divine healing from a theological viewpoint then you will want to skip this book. It is quite technical and deep. However, don't let that scare you. Read this book and be filled with faith that Jesus is a healing God.

Drawning on a depth of learning in Biblical Hebrew, Brown demonstrates how the key Hebrew terms for healing have been systematically and almost universally mistranslated and misunderstood by Biblical scholars and most existing Bibles. From this linguistic evidence, Brown reinterprets Biblical healing in a radical fashion. Absolutely essential for anyone studying healing in the Bible. (Some serious students and scholars may be surprised at the portrait of Jesus on the cover of a book labelled as an "Old Testament" study, but not to worry. Brown is a meticulous scholar. The footnotes alone--more than a hundred pages--are worth the price of the book.)

A must read book for this excellent new author. Totally an eye opener on how people in other countries live in fear every day of their lives and this war has been going on for years. Myself being naive about how palestinians are treated and how their lives are so different from our own secure world. Americans are so engrossed in their busy lives and we hear very little of what goes on there. The author totally cares about these people and is so compassionate interviewing them. I highly recommend this book.

Cathy Sultan's book is a must-read. Most Americans don't have the opportunity of knowing what is happening to Palestinians in Israel. We mainly hear what our government wants us to hear, about suicide bombers, not about the millions of innocent Palestinians who are living (and dying) in extremely oppressive circumstances. They too want peace. Cathy Sultan provides a well written and well documented glimpse into the pain, humiliation and struggles that Palestinians face on a daily basis. She interviews both Israelis and Palestinians, asks tough and probing questions, and gives us a very readable, informative, and engrossing book. I highly recommend it.

An absolute must read!!!
Cathy Sultan recalls the painful past of the Middle East through very specific research. She experienced first-hand the present daily struggles of its people and documented them through her travels there. She invites you to help visualize a peaceful and vibrant life for those who have little voice in government.

A definite must have!!!

After reading Cathy Sultan's book, one certainly appreciates the freedom that we so easily take for granted here in the United States. Her book was clearly written and very educational. I'm going to recommend my high school age children read it. The people she interviewed were presented in a caring and compassionate manner. The men, women and students interviewed in "Israeli and Palestinian Voices" were diverse and yet ordinary people. After reading this book, I have a far better understanding and appreciation for the issues facing the people in that region of the world.

First and foremost I firmly believe that Israel has a right to exist and to defend itself. The Jewish people have suffered an incredible amount of persecution over the centuries, culminating in the events of World War II. Had there been a nation firmly representing the Jewish people, then the Germans would not have been able to engage in their extermination tactics. However, that does not justify the deliberate acts of "ethnic cleansing" that the Israelis have carried out since the first days of the emergence of Israel. The actions of the terror organizations the Irgun and Stern Gang in raping and killing Arabs are well known, having been documented by Israeli historians.
In this book, the author interviews Palestinian and Israeli people of all political persuasions. On the Israeli side the spectrum is from those who believe that they have a biblical right to the exclusive use of all the land of Palestine to those who think the only solution is a dual Jewish-Arab state. The Palestinians interviewed tended to be more towards the moderate wing, there were few statements advocating anything along the line of the destruction of Israel.
What you do get out of the book is the understanding that it is Israeli state policy to keep the tightest possible clamps on the Palestinians. Among many other things concrete rubble is dumped in the Palestinian streets to make it difficult for them to travel, centuries old fruit trees are bulldozed down to make room for Israeli settlements, and tariffs collected on goods that go through the Palestinian territories bound for Israel are not paid to the Palestinians. It is also clear that this attempt to keep the Palestinian territories a vassal state of Israel cannot be continued indefinitely.
Another thing that is clear is that the Palestinian people were very tired of the corruption exhibited by the Fatah organization of Yassir Arafat. In reading through the interviews with the Palestinians, one can sense the forces that led to the Hamas victory in their elections. The Palestinians voted for a change, and in their minds, anything was better than what they had.
Sultan has succeeded in presenting both sides of this seemingly irreconcilable conflict in a free and candid manner. The Palestinians describe the actions of the Israelis in the forcible confiscation of Arab land that began back in the forties. The Israelis counter with their history of centuries of persecution and their casualties as a consequence of suicide bombings. One can only hope that at some point both sides will finally realize that past suffering does not justify the persecution of the present and somehow reach an understanding that will allow both to eventually know some form of peace.

This is near the top of the list as one of the greatest books pertaining to the theory of a possible post-crucifixion life of Jesus Christ. It's a classic. We are happy that it has been recently re-released (it was originally published in 1950) in 1998.

Maybe I'm different in that I knew much of this material already. Nonetheless, the biblical material is very well researched and presented, although the author does not always show that he had a copy of an apocryphal text (there have been a number of forgeries of the Gospel according to the Hebrews, for instance, but only fragments of the original text have been found). While I appreciate the author's Islamic beliefs, and while he reports his Quranic studies as thoroughly (often MORE thoroughly) as his Christian materials, the Islamic materials take up too much of the book. The title subject material is not even begun to be addressed until 2/3 of the book is over. Is the author writing to Islamic readers, Christian readers, scholars in general, or who? If he is addressing Christian readers, telling them how much more authoritative the Quran is than the Bible will hardly get them to keep reading... and if he is addressing Islamic readers, it sounds as though he is preaching to the choir. The biblical material that I did not have previous knowledge was astonishing, and I learned as much from his method of presentation as from the facts themselves. Well worth the read -- although non-Islamic readers will likely skip the long chapters on Quranic sources.

This book is a in depth research of the actual life of Jesus Christ; each and every fact is thoroughly researched and all sources are given. It is not a book for the faint hearted; the author Nasir Ahmad is a heavy weight intellectual who has used his thorough training as an advocate to leave no stone unturned, in his search for the truth. Had his name been 'Nigel Atkins' he would have received world wide recognition; unfortunately with an eastern sounding name; the literature pundits of the 'superior' west will discard him off as a 'coolie' to big for his boots. However the revelations are too strong and too convincing to remain in the closet for long. Once this work is recognised and acknowledged; the house of cards upon which western christianity is built will come tumbing down. This book is almost impossible to find in a public library or university library; yes it is indexed in the library catalogues; but inevitably you will find that the book has either 'been lost' or is on indefinite loan; so the only way to read it; is to purchase it. The revelations are not for the faint hearted.

This is perhaps the best and most thorough book on the subject of the post-crucifixion life of Jesus Christ.

Of course, the entire and comprehensive theory was first written by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in the year 1899, in his explosive work, Jesus in India . Khwaja Nazir Ahmad, a follower of Ghulam Ahmad's, expanded on Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's original work, Jesus in India, and it is simply a shame that Nazir Ahmad--who was once considered for the Nobel Prize--is not given recognition for this powerful work.

But, as Thundy states: "Those of us who have lived with Europeans in India and the West during the colonial period and after know that most of them as a rule carry the 'White Man's Burden' (Kipling) and the conception of the Orientals as 'lesser breeds without the law' (Macaulay); like colonial masters everywhere, they were not accustomed to consider the Easterners as their equals. As Radhakrishnan's observation cited earlier points out, in general, Western scholars, though fascinated by Eastern wisdom, have always found it hard to admit that the West could ever have borrowed anything of worth from the East or the East was ever equal or superior to the West in their cultural accomplishments." (Buddha and Christ: Nativity Stories and Indian Traditions,p. 10).

Aside from the *obvious* fear that this great work must invoke amongst Christians, one wonders whether or not traditional bias against Asia and Asian scholars might be part of the reason that this book is not given its due.

Long before Hassnain (1994), Kersten (1986), Kaiser (1978) and others who wrote about the theory of a post-crucifixion life of Jesus, Nazir Ahmad had thorougly explored this issue, and his book, in our view, is still unmatched. (Tomb Master)

"Jesus in Heaven on Earth" is a fascinating documentation of a nearly unknown tradition, but one which appears to be quite well documented. While including material which may not be the best evidence of the theory that Jesus survived the crucifixion and then traveled eastward, ultimately ending up in Kashmir (like the Gospel of Barnabas, which seems to be very late and not at all authentic), it at least draws attention to the fact that, yes, we Westerners almost never assume that any part of the world outside of our own knows anything (or at least anything "true") or might shed light on our own history. There's lots of information here, all of which is worth reading not only because it presents a very plausible theory of Jesus' life and death, but just because it awakens one's awareness of the other side of history.

This is one of my favorite books. It takes you into the heart and soul of a son of Israel. Yoni has become one of my favorite people in history because of this book. It can be hard to read at times, like when he says to Bibi about why he lives in Israel and not in the US. He talks about explaining to his children... Yoni didn't have a child who survived him. That's sad. He brings you into his world, his life, his joys and his sorrows. He was a very competent soldier, who did what was necessary for Israel, but when you read these letters, you find out WHY he did what he did. Israel lost a leader that day on July 4 1976, and he is sorely missed today. This is what the book of letters has shown me.

I picked up The Letters of Jonathan Netanyahu at Ben Gurion on my way back to the states without any expectations (after all, how good can a book picked up at the airport be?)...and I was completely blown away - this is the most powerful book that I have ever read. In an age of anti-heroes and villians, where it is so easy to find moral failure in people and literature - Jonathan shines through as a star among a multitude of gray, flabby inertia. His well thought-out convictions followed by the courage to act on them to the end, despite the sacrifice that they entailed, are a standard that one should strive for. "I do not attribute value to a life without meaning," he said at 17, simply and perceptively - something that is so rare to see in people at any age, where almost everyone I know there tithers from job to job with no purpose other than the accumulation of material wealth (which inevitably doesn't make them any happier).

I think I will need a great passage of time and multiple reads before I can fully sort out my thoughts on this book. Everything from the Wars of the Jews (which are still as bitter and short-sighted as he talks about) to his contrast of the U.S. and Israel, to the quality of the people serving in the IDF, to what brings happiness and contentment to ones life, all ring true to me.

I know that there is more to say - a lot more - but I'm going to let this review stand on its own for now.

"The Letters of Jonathan Netanyahu" is a very moving account of a young teen as he moves towards adulthood. His own words portray a life filled with duty, honor, and service to his people and his country. At the expense of his education, his marriage, and later his own life, Yoni shows by example what it means to sacrifice for a cause worth dying for. In today's American society, where young liberals question the intelligence and sanity of their friends who have enlisted in the War on Terror, I think this book should be required reading.
My heart goes out to his parents, brothers, and the people of Israel. As is obvious from these letters, they lost one of the best and brightest of his generation.

The people of Israel lost a great potential leader when Yoni Netanyahu was killed while leading the rescue operation at Entebbe.
These letters are the letters of a soldier. But they are more than that. They are the letters of a dedicated idealist, a fighter for his people who shows an unusual maturity and wisdom for his young years. They are the letters of a person of integrity whose struggle in life, and through a difficult Army service is not easy. He is a true patriot and a devoted son to his family .His understanding of the complexity of the war Israel is in is second to none.
He impresses as being in his intelligence, and in his quiet strength precisely the kind of leader Israel needs.
His death made him a legend , and his name a symbol of what is best in the struggle of Israel for its existence. But what a loss when one thinks of how much this remarkable person gave, and could have given to his society and world.

I was recently introduced to this work by a friend who took a curious interest in my decision to leave a career in securities and investments for a position with the humanitarian arm of the military. More than any military or political aspects of the book, I was profoundly impressed with the maturity, strength, and convictions of Mr. Netanyahu as an individual. His wisdom and fortitude and pride for his country are outweighed only by the depth of love for his family. What a fresh perspective juxtaposed with the persona of contemporary Western adolescents!

One of the best writers. I have read numerous books by Thoene and enjoyed every one of them.

This in an excellent book; however, you need to read all the previous in all the series to understand what is going on. All the books in these three series are excellent!!!

This series as well as the previous, the Zion Covenant, are fantastic. You truely feel like part of the story, and most facts are accurate. I love reading about this time period in history, and the Thoene's do a fantastic job. Enjoy!

I received this series from a pile of books to give away from a church library, and having heard of them before, I thought I`d try it. Beginning the first book, I thought it was okay, but somewhat typical of most Christian fiction I`ve read. By the time, I finished, it had become more interesting, and I was anxious to start the next book to see what would happen. Having just finished "A Light in Zion", I am more and more impressed with the author, as the story seems to capture a variety of veiwpoints and beliefs and lives, and respects most of them. I am recommending these books to everyone I know.

All of the Thoene books relating to the Jewish history before, during, and after the birth and life of Jesus. Bible stories, factual history bound together with some fictional conversation. These books are riveting, extremely informative and very spiritual. It's much like reading and studying the bible with stories that flow so well that they remain in your memory. I started with AD Chronicles(5), then the Zion Chronicles (5), and currently finishing the Zion Legacy. These books will change your life. When I finish, I'm going to read the entire set two more times. They are worth committing to memory. These authors are gifted and a blessing.

Dr. Hafez focuses in the intifada campaign of suicide bombing for his research on motives for suicide bombers. He outlined the motives of the organization's that prepare, support and dispatch the bomber as well, as a different one that that of the bomber, which is analyzed. The community/ society motives for support the campaigns is also analyzed. Since I have read the majority of the reference use by the author, I need to say that his work is a valuable one for this issue, easily read, short and precise, and a likely and useful framework.

Knowledgeably written by Mohammed M. Hafez (Visiting Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Missouri, Kansas City) Manufacturing Human Bombs: The Making Of Palestinian Suicide Bombers is an insightful and chilling study of the Palestinian suicide bombers during the Al-Aqsa intifada that began in the year 2000 and continues to be a primary weapon among Islamic fundamentalists. Providing western readers with an in-depth understanding of the deaths, war, killings, and reasoning and rationale to these terrifying and seemingly indiscriminate attacks, Manufacturing Human Bombs creates an intricate detailing of Middle East mentality, lifestyle, honor, and progression of those who elect to become suicide bombers and those who elect to employ them. Manufacturing Human Bombs is very highly recommended reading to all students of the Middle Eastern culture, the suicidal extremes of the bombers themselves, the attitudes of the victimized society that breeds them, and the issues surrounding phenomena of suicide bombers in countries such as Iraq, Israel, Chechnya, and Afghanistan.

Knowledgeably written by Mohammed M. Hafez (Visiting Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Missouri, Kansas City) Manufacturing Human Bombs: The Making Of Palestinian Suicide Bombers is an insightful and chilling study of the Palestinian suicide bombers during the Al-Aqsa intifada that began in the year 2000 and continues to be a primary weapon among Islamic fundamentalists. Providing western readers with an in-depth understanding of the deaths, war, killings, and reasoning and rationale to these terrifying and seemingly indiscriminate attacks, Manufacturing Human Bombs creates an intricate detailing of Middle East mentality, lifestyle, honor, and progression of those who elect to become suicide bombers and those who elect to employ them. Manufacturing Human Bombs is very highly recommended reading to all students of the Middle Eastern culture, the suicidal extremes of the bombers themselves, the attitudes of the victimized society that breeds them, and the issues surrounding phenomena of suicide bombers in countries such as Iraq, Israel, Chechnya, and Afghanistan.

Knowledgeably written by Mohammed M. Hafez (Visiting Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Missouri, Kansas City) Manufacturing Human Bombs: The Making Of Palestinian Suicide Bombers is an insightful and chilling study of the Palestinian suicide bombers during the Al-Aqsa intifada that began in the year 2000 and continues to be a primary weapon among Islamic fundamentalists. Providing western readers with an in-depth understanding of the deaths, war, killings, and reasoning and rationale to these terrifying and seemingly indiscriminate attacks, Manufacturing Human Bombs creates an intricate detailing of Middle East mentality, lifestyle, honor, and progression of those who elect to become suicide bombers and those who elect to employ them. Manufacturing Human Bombs is very highly recommended reading to all students of the Middle Eastern culture, the suicidal extremes of the bombers themselves, the attitudes of the victimized society that breeds them, and the issues surrounding phenomena of suicide bombers in countries such as Iraq, Israel, Chechnya, and Afghanistan.

Knowledgeably written by Mohammed M. Hafez (Visiting Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Missouri, Kansas City) Manufacturing Human Bombs: The Making Of Palestinian Suicide Bombers is an insightful and chilling study of the Palestinian suicide bombers during the Al-Aqsa intifada that began in the year 2000 and continues to be a primary weapon among Islamic fundamentalists. Providing western readers with an in-depth understanding of the deaths, war, killings, and reasoning and rationale to these terrifying and seemingly indiscriminate attacks, Manufacturing Human Bombs creates an intricate detailing of Middle East mentality, lifestyle, honor, and progression of those who elect to become suicide bombers and those who elect to employ them. Manufacturing Human Bombs is very highly recommended reading to all students of the Middle Eastern culture, the suicidal extremes of the bombers themselves, the attitudes of the victimized society that breeds them, and the issues surrounding phenomena of suicide bombers in countries such as Iraq, Israel, Chechnya, and Afghanistan.

In my (very) humble opinion this is Leon Uris' best written book.

The story of Gideon Zadok as he hunches down in the desert with the Israeli Army awaiting attack the book is mostly flashbacks through Gideon's life and his family's history. Utilizing a variety of narrative styles and a mix of narrators to give the reader a full perspective of events as they transpire, Uris also is able to flow from one time frame to the next with mastery and grace.

For me, however, the true gem of this book is the character of Gideon Zadok himself; not the most likeable of people (cheats on his wife, is self-centered unabashedly) but for all of his very obvious faults you cannot help but sympathize and identify with him. I love stories where the main character is unlikable yet through the author the story is constructed in such a way that the reader is pulled into the characters world and forced to walk their path along with them, creating a perfect binary between protqagonist and reader.

Uris, as far as I am concerned, is at his absolute best in this book and it is definately worth catching!!!

Another fantastic human historical drama from Leon Uris Gideon the Writer is struggling to come to terms with a dysfunctional family (made up of a host of colourful characters make it read like a Jewish Dickens) and a difficult marriage to a wife who he takes for granted as well as his own wavering career He gets an assignment to write on Israels struggle to survive at the time of the Sinai War and has a steamy relationship with a sophisticated and powerful Jewish woman -who is a holocaust victim and an important consultant to the Israeli government But the story goes back to that of Gideons family many years before he was born and is exciting,illuminating,sad,humorous and pictureresque

This is perhaps the first book where I read about a character who was made the way Gideon Zadok was. Every hero had to be loved. Hated at least. Mixed emotions never existed in my life then towards a particular character. But Gideon, who blundered his way through fame, marriage and relationships found me loving him to bits one minute and hating him to pieces the next.

One of the best works of Uris, if not for the historical value of the book- for the sheer joy in discovering Gideon Zadok.

As a book, Exodus and Redemption are my favorites, but if I go by characters, I still wouldn't know if I love or hate Gideon Zadok.

Another fantastic historical human historical drama from Leon Uris Gideon the Writer is struggling to come to terms with a dysfunctional family (made up of a host of colourful characters make it read like a Jewish Dickens) and a difficult marriage to a wife who he takes for granted as well as his own wavering career He gets an assignment to write on Israels struggle to survive at the time of the Sinai War and has a steamy relationship with a sophisticated and powerful Jewish woman -who is a holocaust victim and an important consultant to the Israeli government But the story goes back to that of gideons family many years before he was born and is exciting,illuminating,sad,humorous and pictureresque

Mitla Pass is a layered, inspirational tale of love, war(amidst other things) and portrays the main character in a realistic and gritty manner.I first read the book when I was 12 years old and it has remained my favourite novel of all time. Gideon Zadok's struggle is very moving and his remniscing of loved ones helps to emphasise his conflict with himself and those around him. Mitla Pass spans over generations, but contrary to what one might think, you don't lose track.Uris's writing style is exceptional and captures the different settings of the novel beautifully and brings out their individuality.