Middle East Books

The first shots in the War on Terror were heard in the 80's. This book tells how the American juggernaut found itself unable to keep up and flexibly respond to hijackings of American planes and middle east terrorism. Still, the story is told well considering it is a dry subject with a lot of detail. I came away very disappointed and frustrated with the lack of results and accomplishments. Well written and sobering.

This book, BEST LAID PLANS, is an excellent view of terrorism
of the early 1990s' , that is still very much relevant today.
David martin did a masterful job

I knew of two people who were aboard TWA Flight 847, on June
14th, 1985. When this Flight was hi-jacked on June 14th, 1985,
I realized that this was and is, the Real Beginning of the
War On Terror--16 years or so, before '9-11' of 2001.

Martin's book deserves an A-plus.

It still IS a WARNING for the early 21st Century, via the
War on Terror.

BUY IT!!

Thank You!!

Reading this book requires quite a background on the theses of the foundation of the Ottoman Empire. The author questions the accounts about the nature of the early Ottoman state. Did it consist of tribal Turks (extension of Seljuks) with the purpose of propagating Islam as asserted by Koprulu or were they heteredox gazis cooperating with Christian Byzantine locals as asserted by Wittek? Or were they just plunderers as claimed by a couple of Greek historians? Kafadar is very analytical. It is quite stimulating to read his logical deductions where historical data are not available. He seems to reach a synthesis closer to Wittek but not quite Wittek though. It seems more like Lindner who revised Wittek's argument in 1980's. Kafadar further discusses how the centralization of the Ottoman administration during the early 15th century eliminated the gaza spirit over time. The book is analytic and presents interesting facts and possibilites such as the real name (or the second name) of Osman.
The only drag is the abbreviations. For example, the author uses Apz for Asikpasazade or OE for Ottoman Empire throughout the text.
It is very well worth reading if you are interested in the nature of early Ottomans.

Reading Kafadar's book is not only reading a history of the Ottoman Empire, but it is remembering the complexity of history. Kafadar's book analyses the forces at play, their effects, and their results on the creation of the Ottoman Empire. The questions Kafadar asks in this book are not only very important to uncover the often misunderstood beginnings of the Ottoman's; but it also addresses "the myths of creation" about the Ottoman Empire, which were to serve political purposes. Last but not least Kafadar's style is very powerful and capable of working on such a problematic period and yet make the reader flow through his arguments so easily. I can recommend this book to all interested in the Ottoman Empire, the Middle East and generally in great historical analysis, do not shy away from it because it is not a popular historical account.

BEYOND THE WALLS:
CHURCHES OF JERUSALEM
by
Aviva Bar-Am

Photographs: Shmuel Bar-Am
ISBN 965-90048-7-7

If walls could talk
Whether ancient or contemporary, the churches of Jerusalem are wrapped in that very special aura which surrounds the Holy City.
Now, with publication of "Beyond the Walls: Churches of Jerusalem", you can unravel the mysteries which lie behind each magnificent - or modest - facade. In "Beyond the Walls: Churches of Jerusalem", former Jerusalem Post correspondent Aviva Bar-Am offers in-depth narratives, stirring legends, and lively anecdotes which bring 30 of the Holy City's historic churches to life.
Among the sanctuaries and sites described in the book are the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (including a step-by-step walk-through guide), St. James' Cathedral, the Church of St. John the Baptist in the Old City, the Basilica of the Agony at Gethsemane, and Dominus Flevit.
Read about the Ethiopian Church, the Church of the Visitation, Ecce Homo Basilica, St. Andrew's Church, Mary's Tomb (the Church of the Assumption), the Church of St. Mary Magdalene, the Church of the Flagellation, the Church of St. Alexander Nevsky ... and more!
The perfect gift for pilgrims planning to visit the Holy Land, "Beyond the Walls: Churches of Jerusalem" is also, of course, an incomparable souvenir. But even if you can't make the journey, add this wonderful book to your home library. Peruse its captivating pages at your leisure and prepare to take an adventurous "trip" from the comfort of your armchair!

100 pages
50 color photographs

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Mount of Olives map - Ein Karem map - Old City map
1 - Saint Lazarus' Church
2 - Church of Beitphage
3 - Basilica of the Agony - Church of all Nations (Gethsemane)
4 - Church of the Assumption (Saint Mary's Tomb)
5 - Church of the Ascension (also known as Dome of the Ascension)
6 - Church of the Ascension - Augusta Victoria
7 - Church of Saint Mary Magdalene
8 - Convent of the Pater Noster
9 - Dominus Flevit
10- Church of the the Ascension (Russian)
11- Monastery of the Holy Cross
12- Church of the Visitation
13- Church of Saint John the Baptist (Ein Kerem)
14- Church of the Redeemer
15- Church of Saint John the Baptist (Old City)
16- Church of Saint Alexander Nevsky
17- Church of the Holy Sepulchre
18- Ecce Homo Basilica
19- Church of the Flagellation
20- Church of the Condemnation and Imposition of the Cross
21- Church of Saint Anne
22- Church of Saint Mark
23- Saint James' Cathedral
24- Christ Church
25- Dormition Abbey
26- Church of Saint Peter in Gallicantu
27- Church of Saint Andrew
28- Ethiopian Church
29- Cathedral of the Holy Trinity
30- Cathedral of Saint George

When you travel to Jerusalem - take this book with you! Because it is as if a legend teller is acompanying you in your visit to the beautiful churches of Jerusalem. It tells you stories that no tourist guidebook will tell you, and it makes your days in Jerusalem's churches unforgettable.

The debut nonfiction compendium of religion and history expert Frederic March, The Bible Through the Eyes of Its Authors: A Political History of Ancient Israel and Judah is an in-depth examination of the Bible in the context of five historical eras. The Bible Through the Eyes of Its Authors does not shy away from moral quandaries of the Bible, such as the existence of a supposedly loving God that commands Israel to annihilate entire nations. Researched at length, and breaking down Biblical text passage by passage in historical context, The Bible Through the Eyes of Its Authors is enthusiastically recommended for both public and private religious history and Bible studies shelves.

In The Bible Through the Eyes of its Authors, Frederic March takes his readers on a studied journey through the ancient Hebrew texts that comprise for Christians the Old Testament of the Bible and for Jews the foundational scripture of their religion. March, unlike countless other authors, does not undertake his journey to support or reject the religions based upon them, but rather to understand them as the product of centuries of political development, as a people transition from a primitive, scattered, semi-nomadic life style into a highly structured, landed civilization. He tackles his journey in three ways: through analysis of the text itself, through modern archeological and historical research, and by reconstructing and analyzing the authorship of the Bible. In all of these, he draws upon the works of many other writers, historians, and researchers, ultimately creating a compendium of the latest thinking in biblical research, leavened with his own fascinating insights.

With my predilection to think in evolutionary terms (my background is in biological science), I was most struck by March's insights into the evolutionary nature of the texts. In reviewing the authorship of the various texts, he rejects the traditional teaching that they were written by their principals-that is, Moses wrote the Torah, Court scribes wrote Kings and Chronicles, prophets wrote the books that bear their names, and so on-in favor of the more evidence-based proposals of religiously liberal and secular scholars. In these latter views, the grand chronology from creation to Ezra's time, was the work of five principal authors (whose actual identities remain unknown but who can be inferred from the biblical text) to each of whom is assigned a letter. Four, E, P, D, and R are thought to have been priests. March accepts the somewhat controversial position that the fifth, identified as J, was most likely a woman, this because many of the passages ascribed to her are at odds with those attributed to the other writers, and because she placed much stronger female characters in her writing. (She also loved to lambast male leaders, as when she made Samson the weak-minded dupe of Delilah.)

All of these writers worked many centuries after the period described in the first ten books of the Bible, Genesis through Kings, either inventing or reconstructing the history from the oral tradition. They, according to March, simply adapted those earlier stories to provide a sacred history that could be used to justify political actions in their own times (variously ranging from about 850 to 350 BCE). Thus the Bible evolved from earlier antecedents, by selection and modification, into a corpus of texts useful to the writers. One example will illustrate: During the Israelites 40 year desert sojourn under the leadership of Moses, much of the time the people were so destitute that they had neither food to eat nor water to drink. March writes: "Only God's magical provision of quail, manna, and water calms them [the Israelite people] down and saves Moses and Aaron from their wrath. P's [the writer of this story] message is transparent; have faith in the Lord by obeying God's priests. In tough times only God's priests offer salvation. Moses uses the technique of all tyrant priests by deflecting blame for conditions he himself is responsible for, to God, whose actions are clearly not accountable to the people." (Pg 53) Later, Moses visits God on Mount Sinai and receives many commandments, among them the command to build an elaborately ornamented and lavishly furnished Tabernacle. March observes: "How do these wretched people, living on God's gift of manna manage to obtain the wealth of materials and crafted objects described here?....Why is P so untroubled by these anomalies? It was because his intent was to depict the elaborate cult of the wealthy temple in his own time (circa 700 BCE) as having its origins in the ancient Exodus period (circa 1290 BCE in biblical time)....He employs only the thinnest veneer of historical realism for Moses' time....But what would motivate P to do this? In part a need to indoctrinate warriors for battles against Judah's enemies. Judah was an Assyrian vassal and Hezekiah had a plan to revolt. He needed the most powerful, dedicated and fearless army possible. He also needed money to raise the army. And finally, Hezekiah believed he needed the priests to propitiate God to support the national defense." (Pg 67)

If you accept his reasoning, March provides a powerful explanation for the obvious inconsistencies in many Biblical stories. The writers used their textual manipulations to adjust their religion to serve their current needs, a process that continues to this day. (Of course, as March observes, current theologians do not have the liberty to actually change the text, but must content themselves with creative reinterpretations of the preserved text to give their religion modern relevance.) Interestingly, biblical evolution appears to share with biological evolution a tendency to never throw anything away, but merely to rework that which already exists to serve new purposes. Just as earlier biological forms can sometimes be inferred from comparative anatomy, older texts-even the oral tradition-can sometimes be recovered through comparative study of existing texts. Hey, it might be that Intelligent Design is no more relevant to the Bible than it is to biology.

March has performed a valuable service to anyone, layman or serious scholar, who is interested in the historical origins of the Bible and the motivations of its writers. Of necessity, this is a long book, because it treats an immense topic, but March writes clearly, with a minimum of jargon, and I found his commentaries easy to follow. They were adequately detailed without, in spite of the book's length, becoming tiresome, and I found the case he makes for his thesis, that the writers were often politically motivated, persuasive and not easily dismissed. This is a book well worth reading.

The Biddle Street Bridge was an outstanding read. I couldn't put it down. It was definatley a feel good book, that brought a smile to my face & a warm feeling to my heart. THIS IS A MUST READ!!

The Biddle Street Bridge was an outstanding read. I couldn't put it down. It was definatley a feel good book, that brought a smile to my face & a warm feeling to my heart. THIS IS A MUST READ!!

This fine article addresses what I consider to be one of the main challenges to the very idea of scholarship, namely the substitution of absurd lies for what ought to be historically valid material about Israel.

As David Horowitz explains in his introduction, we see plenty of bogus material about Israel from those who wish to use words to justify aggression and war against civilian populations. He says that "everyone interested in justice will want to read this little book." I agree.

The book begins with two chapters about the Arab refugees. The author, David Meir-Levi, explains that "even well-educated historians" strongly imply, totally falsely, "that the creation of the State of Israel caused the flight of almost a million hapless, helpless, and hopeless Arab refugees."

Of course, all the creation of the State of Israel accomplished was to provide a refuge whose citizens, specifically including its Jewish citizens, would have human rights. That means that such an accusation could only be true if, for some reason, Arabs were unable to abide living in the same nation as emancipated Jews. And that would amount to terribly racist behavior by those Arabs. Is it true that if Arabs are not allowed to oppress Jews, they have no choice but to move to a place where they are allowed to engage in such behavior? I can't believe that.

Meir-Levi attacks the accusation as simply historically invalid. He's right to do so. He shows that the Arab refugees were created by Arab aggression against Jewish rights. And he mentions the impudence of Arabs who refer to the survival and emancipation of the Jews and the Arab failure to get rid of Jewish rights as a catastrophe. He reminds us of the hundreds of thousands of Jews who had to flee Arab lands at about the same time. He shows that the Arabs who were willing to stay in Israel have fared relatively well there, in spite of the continuing Arab aggression against Israel. And he explains that the persistence of the Arab refugee problem is basically an Arab weapon against Israel.

In the third and final chapter, we are reminded that the modern Zionists who bought land in the Levant did so legally. Not merely legally, but at high prices. That ought to be obvious, but even this has been challenged by some anti-Zionists who try to pretend that any Jewish land must have been stolen! The Jews, far from driving out the Arabs, actually attracted Arabs to the regions they settled in, by making the deserts bloom, draining the swamps, and improving the economy. Yet, once again, we see that some anti-Zionists try to pretend that none of this happened. Meir-Levi is striking in his use of Arab sources to back up his points.

We also learn about more recent Israeli history, including the legality of the Israeli settlements. Plenty of people have falsely stated that the Israeli West Bank settlements are illegal in accordance with the Fourth Geneva Convention and international law. But as Meir-Levi shows, such statements are simply Orwellian; "it is precisely international law, the Geneva Convention, and relevant UN resolutions that define these settlements as legal."

Some folks may argue that truth just doesn't matter. They may feel that some Arabs do not want Jews to live in the Middle East, and that is all that matters, and that if Mankind can't get rid of these Jews, it is doing something Wrong. But I disagree. Not only do I feel that it would be a terrible moral error to get rid of human rights for Middle Eastern Jews, I feel it would be an even worse mistake to abolish truth and justice to enable us to do that.

I highly recommend this little book.

This terrific 56-page booklet explains the myths that have tarnished Israel's name and falsified the historical record over the last several decades. It is based on more than 60 references cited in a bibliography.

The book is divided into three sections, discussing the origins of the refugee problems, the stages through which the problem was created, and the questions surrounding the "occupation" and the "settlements."

As has so often been explained, in 1947, the United Nations mandated the creation of two states in the 20 percent that remained of Palestine following its first illegal division by Britain. The Jewish people accepted the partition, but eight Arab nations initiated a war against them to obliterate Israel. As a result of the aggressive war, Israel acquired more land, and hundreds of thousands of Arabs fled. After the war, Israel offered the right to return so long as Arabs swore their allegiance to Israel and renounced violence. Only 150,000 Arabs took advantage.

Meanwhile, from 1948 through 1954, more than 800,000 Jewish people were forced to flee their homes in Arab and Muslim states in the Middle East. Most settled in Israel.

Arabs began leaving Israel of their own free will even before the partition plan was announced in November 1947. Even before that, 70,000 Arabs fled. Another 100,000 or so left after hostilities began in November 1947. Then the Arab leadership began announcing their intention to annihilate the Jewish people, and still more people fled. In March 1948, an Iraqi brigade had entered the village of Deir Yassin, in an attempt to cut off the road from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

On April 9, 1948, Jewish troops entered the village, intending to capture it and drive out the Iraqi belligerents. The Iraqis disguised themselves as women, however, and fired from among the women. Naturally, as a result of the reckless endangerment of civilians, Arab women were killed along with many armed and disguised Arabs. A recent study by Beir-Zayyit university on Ramallah showed there was no massacre--only a military conflict in which civilians were killed in the crossfire. But Arab leaders, who had told Arabs to flee, also used the incident to shame Arab nations into more forceful fighting. Their plan backfired when Arabs panicked and fled by the thousands.

Despite Israel's offer in February 1949 to return Arab lands occupied as a result of their war on Israel, the Arabs refused to sign a peace treaty on which the offer was conditioned.

Finally, the booklet covers settlement. As noted, Zionist pioneers from the 1840s onward immigrated to Israel from all over the Arab world and Europe to join the local Jewish community to rebuild the Jewish homeland. They bought land from the Turkish crown (which had conquered and ruled the land for 400 years) and Arab landowners. There was no theft, and no one was driven from their land. A 1990 demographic study of Palestine by Columbia University showed the Arab population grew tremendously as a result of Jewish economic development. An Arab population that was static at 340,000, from 1514 to about 1840, suddenly began increasing in 1855 and by 1947 had almost quadrupled.

The booklet also covers the unsuccessful proposed Peel Partition plan, the UN partition, pre-1967 terrorism, (which resulted in more than 9,000 attacks from 1949 to 1956 from the Gaza strip alone), the the belated emergence of Palestinian nationalism in 1967.

As the article explains, "Israel is the only known country in all of history to come into existence via legal and beneficial land development (as opposed to the almost universal method of conquest)." Israel has the right, by virtue of Arab aggression in 1948 and 1967, to maintain sovereignty over its newly won territories and to develop them in any way "that is not prejudicial to the well-being" of civilians.

This excellent booklet sets the record straight.

The book is clearly written, organized by region, brief yet to the point. I chose it as a starting point in beginning to understand US involvement in the Middle East. I found the information conscise and heavily footnoted. I appreciated the footnotes as I looked up additional information on the internet. The information was easy to grasp for a broad understanding. This book was quite helpful to me in going on to read other books which discuss matters at a deeper level. I would recommend it to another person not well versed in the politics of the middle east -US relationship.

This is a country-by-country chronicle of how American covert wars throughout the Middle East have come back to haunt us, creating plenty of enemies.

Saddam Hussein's rise to power in the 1970s was helped by a CIA decision to assassinate one of his predecessors, General Abdel Karim Qassim. In Syria, the CIA sponsored a 1949 military takeover, the first of over a dozen coups in the next 20 years. American oil companies felt that an independent Syria was not in their interests. Sudan has been involved, off and on, in a bloody civil war for almost 50 years. Oil just happens to be a factor in this ongoing slaughter.

In Egypt, Hosni Mubarak has ruled with an iron fist ever since the 1982 assassination of Anwar Sadat, his predecessor. Mubarak uses billions of dollars in US military aid to beat and torture opposition politicians and journalists, many of whom have died in custody. Press restrictions are widespread. Egypt is viewed as a well-bribed client state of the US. The military in Turkey, a US ally and fellow member of NATO, has been one of the biggest human rights abusers of the last decade.

America has always looked for a surrogate policeman in the Persian Gulf, to keep an eye on the huge oil reserves. First, we armed the Shah of Iran, ignoring his repression, until he was overthrown. Then we armed Iraq, ignoring Saddam Hussein's repression, until he became too powerful, and a major war was needed to destroy his arsenal. Now, America is arming Saudi Arabia, ignoring their repression, creating a generation of militants determined to overthrow the puppet regime propped up with American money.

Part of the blame for all this can be laid at the feet of Great Britain. They were the colonial power for much of the first half of the 20th century, and had a tendency to draw national boundaries while ignoring an area's ethnic makeup.

Arab hatred of America has less to do with our freedoms and diversity than with our illegal involvement in another country's internal affairs. This book easily reaches the level of Must Read. It's very interesting, it's easy to read and it is full of information that won't be mentioned in the mainstream media.

I work in a multinational company and am in daily contact with colleagues and clients abroad. They come from r&d, marketing and sales. When I read the book, everything clicked. All of a sudden, I understood why problems dealing with contracts, managing time and solving conflicts had arisen in the past. "Border Crossings" also gave me some good ideas about how to solve intercultural conflicts. When I first started out, I needed a dictionary to understand the language. Now that I understand the language, I need a cultural interpreter to figure out what the words and behavior really mean. "Border Crossings" is my interpreter.

Anyone in either Israel or the US that is interested in working with a factor from the other country cannot afford not to read this book. It has nothing to do with intuition or intelligence - the differences can only be learned, either through tiresome and costly experience or through reading Border Crossings.

This book is a wonderful eye-witness account, told in a totally readable style. You will LOVE this book! How do I know? I wrote it! I got lost in Egypt, the West Bank of Palestine, Kabul and the Green Zone in Iraq. You will think that you were there with me. But bring your own flak jacket for sure!

For some, Jane Stillwater might be an acquired taste. She has a gift for skewering the pompous with a phrase, of unabashedly pointing out which emperors lack clothes. If one is a die-hard conservative still giving George Bush manly love, Jane's writing will probably be infuriating. (At least one can hope.)

She writes from a personal perspective and the chronicle of her overseas oddessies read like a combination of Mark Twain and Jack Kerouac.

For the seriously open-minded who enjoy a good chortle.

Annabel Wharton has written a stunning and brilliant book about the US, Europe and the Middle East during the 1950s and 1960s, the height of the Cold War. She tells the story of how Conrad Hilton and his hotel empire participated in the rebuilding of Western Europe and key spots in the Middle East in the wake of WWII by establishing the Hilton International hotels--architectural monuments to modernism--as "little Americas" away from home for US businessmen, tourists, and diplomats. She explores Hilton hotels in London, Berlin, Istanbul. Rome, Cairo , Athens and other locales. Wharton is a smart, witty writer, and this book is a great pleasure to read.

The weapons that won the Cold War include ICBMs and nuclear bombs flown on B-52s. These were threats, but never had to be deployed into action. But one weapon that did go into action was hotels. Hilton hotels. This is the surprising demonstration in _Building the Cold War: Hilton International Hotels and Modern Architecture_ (University of Chicago Press) by Annabel Jane Wharton. What is even more surprising is that Hilton hotels did not just participate in the capitalist boom that eventually dislodged the Soviet Union. They were deliberately placed, designed, and run to make a profit, to be sure, but also to dislodge the Red Threat. This is not just the author's speculation. Conrad Hilton made it explicit: "Let me say right here, that we operate hotels abroad for the same reason we operate them in this country - to make money for our stockholders... However, we feel that if we really believe in what we are all saying about liberty, about Communism, about happiness, that we, as a nation, must exercise our great strength and power for good against evil. If we really believe this, it is up to each of us, our organizations and our industries, to contribute to this objective with all the resources at our command." He was careful not to disparage our country's military, but said, "I will tell you frankly, satellites and H-bombs will not get the job done."

Wharton has done an excellent job of giving a broad history of the overseas Hilton, while giving case studies of specific ones. The Istanbul Hilton, for instance, had all the usual amenities, like lawns (completely foreign to the area), tennis courts, and a swimming pool. It had the extraordinary feature, common in foreign Hiltons, of iced water piped into every room. However, the marquee covering cars that drove up to the entrance was a wavy horizontal structure that was referred to as the "flying carpet." The interior lobby had a series of domes in the ceiling, a bow to mosque designs, and there were teakwood screens and Turkish carpets. Work by local artisans decorated the public spaces. Nonetheless, you can see in the pictures (and in this book, there are many useful ones) that the Istanbul Hilton is still a concrete, metal, and glass box like nothing else around it. Old hotels concentrated on public rooms inside; the Hiltons looked out, with lots of glass in every room to supply a view. The view was carefully chosen. In Istanbul, it faced East, toward the Soviet Union, daring those Commies to look American modernity and wealth in the eyes.

Wharton is a historian of medieval art. Her family used some of these hotels when she was growing up, and she has returned to them to give an architectural history of the Hilton overseas effort. (She could not visit two Hiltons now lost, the one in Havana and the one in Tehran.) It is a remarkable history, no longer active because the Cold War is over, and because others followed Hiltons into the modernism market. The Hilton hotels still exist, but they are just hotels now, not unique as architecture nor as Cold War armaments. They shaped the way American visitors viewed foreign capitals, and boosted American economic (and therefore political) policies. Conrad Hilton may not have won the Cold War, but he did more than plenty of the generals.