Articles Books

I've just completed "Heaven's Nectar" by Wayne Wilson. I must say that this "Sci-Fi/Historical/Geographical" account of events in this novel has really intrigued my imagination to a place where I thought my imagination could not conceive or believe. I'm not a truly big sci-fi fan, but I was drawn into such a well written story. There are so many true facts embedded into this fictional story that it leaves you wondering could these events actually have taken place or will they take place in the future? Wilson gives a very detailed analysis/account in this period of history and keeps you turning the page waiting for what's to come next. Fast forward to the future and Wilson brilliantly wraps up the ending leaving you waiting for the sequel to hit the shelves. Hats off to Wayne Wilson for completing his first novel. Hopefully Wilson will read this review and know that he must give us a "Heaven's Nectar: Part II". It would be interesting to see how he would expand on this wonderfully written tale.

ENCORE!!!!!!!!!!!

T. Scott
San Leandro, CA

I'm the kind of reader that likes to stop after each chapter and jot down where I believe the story will go,what's going to happen and who it's going to happen to. Heavens Nectar just had one surprise turn after another,by chapter ten, I had to stay up and finish it. A simple tale blending Man's greed,against nature's will. Mr.Wilson should have made this one longer.

No question, Ibn Warraq's Leaving Islam includes many important essays by former Muslims, by birth or conversion, who subsequently renounced their faith.

Mansur gives Ibn Warraq ample, well-deserved credit for this excellent work, which the reviewer calls "a companion of sorts to his own personal statement, Why I am Not a Muslim."

As the reviewer notes, despite the Qu'ranic declaration (2:256), "There is no compulsion in religion," traditional Islam both historically and currently consider apostasy (the abandonment of the "one true faith") a capital offense. You desert, you die.

That item of religious belief, along with many others, are often used by Muslim governments "to silence free thinkers and spread a blanket of totalitarian control over [their] communities," Mansur writes.

Ibn Warraq's collection provides several notable early examples of apostates, including Ar-Rawandi (c. 820-830) and Ar-Razi (865-925), the poets Omar Khayyam (c. 1048-1131) and Hafiz (c. 1320-89), and Sufis like Mansur ibn Hallaj (d. 922) and As-Suhrawardi (d. 1191), but as this reviewer notes, the issue "has not seriously been documented or investigated." Undoubtedly that results primarily from the risks to a former Muslim of openly discussing his or her abandonment of Islam.

The former Muslims included in Ibn Warraq's compelling book hail from many locales, including Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Iran, Tunisia, Turkey, Malaysia and Morocco.

Mansur even credits Ibn Warraq with courage and passion in the defense of reason, calling his struggle one "with a culture that seems to be at odds with reason." He calls it an "indispensable tool for Muslims" seeking an Islamic adoption of "enlightenment and reform...."

Yet I take off one star, for Mansur unfortunately accuses the courageous individuals who take their lives in their hands to part with Islam of "abandoning the reformist struggle needed within...."

True enough, Islam needs reform from within. But it is wrong to suggest that former Muslims cannot also influence this discussion. They could have great influence, if only the majority of practicing Muslims would listen to them and demand reform, accordingly.

--Alyssa A. Lappen

This article is a very good review of an excellent book ("Leaving Islam") by "Ibn Warraq." By the way, I also have reviewed Warraq's book on Amazon. Warraq is a pseudonym; the Warraq name has been used by Muslim dissidents for many centuries, including Harun al-Warraq, who died early in the tenth century.

Salim Mansur, in his review, shows the importance of Warraq's discussion of apostasy, which in Islam generally carries a death penalty, especially for men. And Mansur tells us that Warraq's book "offers a compelling insight into the minds" of those who have left Islam in order "to become free of what they considered as oppressive or demeaning to living as rational and independent individuals."

Mansur did not mention this, but I think it is interesting that if one looks in the section on Islam in a major American bookstore, one will now find quite a few books that are highly critical of Islam. This is not the case for sections on Buddhism, Paganism, Judaism, or Christianity: there are many authors who attack these religions strongly, but their books generally are in other sections of such stores. Does this show bias? Or does it show a feeling that of these major religions, Islam is the biggest threat to human rights these days? I'm not sure.

In any case, Mansur's best point is that those who leave Islam, while they may be extremely courageous to do so, are abandoning the reformist struggle within Islam.

I recommend this article.

As a writer and aspiring writer, I've read them all, but never have I encountered such a complete, no-nonsense, nuts-and-bolts guide to magazine writing. If you have it in your library, I really don't think you need another. It's all here, and very practical--with the added bonus of getting two writer's thoughts for the price of one. If you have any hope of selling professionally, you'll find all the tools you need inside. It's also very Canadian, great for us, not quite so great for U.S. folk. The techniques, however, are sound for anyone, anywhere.

Zuehlke and Donnelly have put together a book which tells readers how to be successful as freelance writers. Full of illustrative ancedotes and practical tips, this book lets you believe you can write well and sell well too. The "boonies" refers to any area outside of a major publishing centre. Soemtimes it feels like knocking on doors is all you will do as a freelancer. Zuehlke and Donnelly show you how to get those doors to open.

Great novel, highly recommended, sheds a whole new light on Indira Gandhi. Buy this book now! You're missing out if you don't.

Joyce Sarling is a talented and wonderful author. The whole enviroment of the book engulfs the reader, with the spices and the wonder that is India. It is a fabulous view of Indira Gandhi and the stuggles with her Sikh body guards. Recommended highly!

This seems to be the best of the Low Church (Protestant and Reformed, but not so Catholic)expositions of the Thirty Nine Articles. Griffith Thomas's approach to the sacraments is very Low Church and seems to rely a good deal on John Calvin directly or indirectly.

Reviewer's disclaimer: I am an Episcopal/Anglican layman, and not a trained theologian. Hence my insights or lack thereof are informed by a passion for Anglican theology--a theology which by many modern-day Episcopal Church standards is orthodox/conservative.
Edition note: I'm not sure of the differences between this "7th" edition and the one I read, but I will note that the one I read was the last edition published before the author's death circa 1950, listed as a 4th edition. Perhaps the publisher can supply the needed information here.
"The Principles of Theology" is a thorough, engaging work on the classic Anglican statement of the English Reformation, the 39 Articles. These articles can be found in any copy of the American Book of Common Prayer, but are seemingly ignored by a fair number of our current Episcopal leadership. This is a grievous thing, for these statements should continue to inform any 21st century Anglican who takes his or her faith seriously, despite the fact that the Articles are also very much reflective of their times--the ferment of the Reformation.
The "Introduction" covers a number of topics, including Revelation, Faith, Doctrine, Theology, Creeds, and Anglican Articles. There is also a quite lengthy and helpful History of the Articles.
Every one of the 39 Articles is covered in this book; each chapter is systematically laid out and organized so that a number of facets are covered, including a history of the particular Article when necessary. Footnotes are extensive and well worth reading. It should also be noted that the author uses both Greek and Latin terms which are not always translated--a hindrance for this reader.
Griffith-Thomas was a Low Church Evangelical, though he does at times quote Anglo-Catholics and others to show their opinion. But he often does this to refute them, and at times seems to be going out of his way to attack them. He mentions Newman seven times, and at one point footnotes a quote that seems meant to prove that Anglo-Catholics were all depressive! I suppose given the polemical nature of the Articles, certain strong opinions are bound to crop up, but at times his case against Anglo-Catholic theology seems strained. This is exemplified by his attack on images in the Church--only discussed in Article 22, in the context of veneration of images and Purgatory--in which he seems to completely miss the point of imagery in the church, not to be used as a form of idol worship, but as an aid to instruction and worship itself. He states that "craving for the visible" is a "prominent feature of natural and unspiritual religion". But where does that leave the Incarnation?
Yet speaking of the Incarnation, this is one of the areas of theology where the author truly shines, despite what was quoted above. An example of his insight:
"If [Jesus Christ] is unique in history, must He not also be so in origin?....The miracle of the Incarnation is thus fitly expressed in the miraculous entrance, and harmonizes with the miraculous departure in the Resurrection."
And this: "The Virgin birth is not impossible unless all miracles are impossible..."
In closing, his chapter on Article 17--"Of Predestination and Election"--shows an admirable wrestling with a clearly Biblical topic that has nonetheless given any number of Christians pause. Griffith-Thomas clearly understood this, and spends 20 pages discussing it.
A satisfying book for anyone interested in the origins of Anglican theology, though not always easy for those not trained in formal theology.

Kathy L. Patrick is one in a million. And, her book is the Kat's meow! I don't need to write a thesis describing her literary achievements. Three little words will do....no, not 'I love it', although they do apply. The three words I am thinking of are: powerful, profound and poignant. Taking the reader from her childhood to the present, there is bound to be at least one scenario, if not many, that will stike a chord in each heart that partakes of the banquet she sets before us. A great read, indeed!

Kathy Patrick's book The Pulpwood Queens' Tiara-wearing, Book -sharing Guide to Life offers more than meets the eye, just as its author Kathy Patrick does. It chronicles her growth from shy, worried little girl to the bigger than life lady she has become. Along the way, she has picked up words of wisdom which she shares with the reader from her love of reading and love of family and life! As she began the book clubs to reach out to others, she also promoted inclusiveness and literacy with the fun and slightly wild side of her personality. When she enters the room, the pace quickens and liveliness permeates. The book is just like speaking to her or hearing her speak. It is as if you are visiting one on one with her. There's no pretense, just Kathy. A good READ!

"What did you do during the war, Grandpa" must have had an entirely different meaning in Germany (or Japan) than it did in this country. The loosers of a war must an entirely different viewpoint than the victors. This is perhaps especially World War II with it's horrific memories of the holocaust.

This novel explores this situation from the eyes of four children who find family photo albums showing a beautiful opera singer with "Italian eyes." Perhaps this is the origin of their own dark eyes in a world of blue eyed kids. That the other kids taunt them would not be unexpected, kids are mean to anyone they consider an outsider. That other family members forbid the children to speak of the family's past is much more forbidding.

This is not your standard assembly line mystery story. This is a story from a first rate writer, and it just happens to be his first. It is clear that this won't be his last.

This unique novel is a psychological journey through the history, beginning with the Spanish Civil War and Germany's secret air force, as a young pilot wins the heart of an opera singer with Italian eyes. Four grandchildren, two sisters, a brother and a cousin, are the descendants of the dark-eyed singer and her pilot, their childhood spent in pursuit of clues to this mysterious woman's life, for the children carry the dominant trait, the flashing Italian eyes so unlike others in their neighborhood. The children form an impenetrable wall against the bullies who harass them for their difference, spending untold hours together discussing their grandparents, longing for at least one image of the opera singer, whose eyes can be found nowhere in the family album.

Three of the children are identified, Carl, Pauline and Nora, but their cousin, the narrator, remains unnamed and it is through him that the story plays out. In a blue-eyed world, these four children are an anomaly, their coloring hinting of unspoken family secrets. So what the adults keep to themselves, the children embroider, intent on their own truth. There is, indeed, a mystery to solve, for the opera singer's pilot disappeared for a time from the arms of his betrothed; he returned but as a keeper of secrets, a private, careful man. The children build another reality to embrace their search, sure that somehow they will solve the mystery of the wartime lovers, the four become spies, seekers of truth.

The author's prose is extraordinary, intimate, as though the narrator is whispering secrets that no one else can hear. The book shifts between generations, the narrator as an adult, the cousins as children, the war years and Germany's ultimate humiliation, the love affair of their exotic grandmother and her aviator. The characters are eccentric, quasi-residents of Grimm's Fairy Tales, as seen through the dark eyes of the children. Contradictions abound, for the narrator is careful to point out the many interpretations of a single incident, maybe this was what happened, maybe that. Spies is extraordinarily visual, smells, sights, sounds all part of the eloquent language, a shifting array of possibilities: "The black papa falcons, with their uneven wings, faulty beaks and misshapen heads have long been scraped off... and replaced with commercial decals of birds of prey."

In the end, the four cousins, now adults, are trapped in their intricate perceptions of each other, memories bound by the strange rituals of children, yet faced by an inevitable transition into adulthood. This astonishing novel carries with it the bright memories of youth, an intimate knowledge of war and a generation defined by its terrible consequences, but also the innate curiosity of youth, the stories that frame a past drastically altered by history, where secrets take on a life of their own and magical eyes inhabit the foolish dreams of children clutching a world more real than the future. Finally, the narrator admits: "We underestimated the power of words". Luan Gaines/2005.

The market for yearly anthologies of "best" articles in various genres appears to be insatiable. A quick search of Books in Print reveals such titles of as The Best American Short Stories 2004, The Best American Mystery Stories 2004, The Best American Travel Writing 2004, and The Best Adventure and Survival Stories 2003. "Best of" collections promise to deliver the finest writing in a given field to readers overwhelmed by the volume of articles being published. Consequently, it comes as no surprise that some enterprising author would eventually publish an annual anthology of the best military articles. The 2002 edition of the Standard Periodical Directory listed over 450 military related magazines and journals excluding military history journals. No military professional can possibly keep up with all this material, especially during wartime. Walter Boyne's new volume will be greatly welcome by officers, enlisted personnel, and DOD civilians trying desperately to keep up with all the new ideas and information being generated in this field.

No single theme dominated Boyne's choice of articles, but he is sensitive towards the needs of war-fighters engaged in The Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). Navy personnel involved in maritime interception operations, for example, will find insights from Spencer Tucker's essay, "Lieutenant Andrew H. Foote and the African Slave Trade." In trying to interdict slave traders of the coast of Africa during the middle of the Nineteenth Century, LT Foot confronted many of the same challenges that destroyer commanders today grapple with in trying to intercept terrorists in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea. Army soldiers will enjoy "No Master Plan: The Employment of Artillery in the Indian Wars, 1860-1890" by Prisco R. Hernandez, and see correlations between how field artillery was employed in the Indian Wars and how it is employed today in Iraq. Forward deployed Marines at embassies and other outposts will similarly benefit from David Ulbriich's "Clarifying the Origins and Strategic Mission of the US Marine Corps Defense Battalion."

Thirteen out of twenty one articles in this anthology focus on historical events. The balance covers more current operations. One of the most chilling contemporary articles is Rex Kiziah's "The Emerging Biocruise Threat." Another one that air power professionals will appreciate is Darrel Whitcomb's "Combat Search and Rescue: A longer Look." Whitcomb not only discusses the evolution of CSAR, but why it is critical for the Armed Services today and how it should change to meet to the emerging challenges of the GWOT.

A retired Air Force colonel, the former director of the National Air & Space Museum, and the author of numerous military history books, Boyne points out in his introduction that many of the articles in his volume received awards, but that he never allowed these prizes to dictate his selections. One of the few shortcomings of his book is that he relied only on his own expertise to choose the best military writing of the past five years. For subsequent volumes, Colonel Boyne might consider enlisting a panel of experts to help him sift through the voluminous literature of this field. If formed, this panel also may want to consider translations of foreign articles, as well as web published material in its selection process. The Armed Forces desperately need works like this one and Walter Boyne has proven himself to be up to the task. With some refinement in his methodology and annual updates, Today's Best Military Writing promises to emerge as a "must-read" for anyone in the field.

As this book consist of a compilation of articles, I thought it would be useful to the would-be purchaser to include a list of all the articles contained herewith. They are (in order):

-"Lieutenant Andrew H. Foote and the African Slave Trade," By Spencer C.
Tucker
-"The F-15 Eagle: Origins and Development, 1964-1972," By Jacob Neufeld
-"No Master Plan: The Employment of Artillery in the Indian Wars, 1860-
1890," By Maj Prisco R. Hernandez, ARNG
-"Clarifying the Origins and Strategic Mission of the US Marine Corps
Defense Battalion, 1898-1941," By David J. Ulbrich
-"Birth of the American Way of War," By Thomas Fleming
-"More than Numbers: Americans and the Revival of French Morale in the
Great War," By Col Robert A. Doughty
-"Task Force Kingston," By Martin Blumenson
-"The Making of a Hero: What Really Happened Seventy-Five Years Ago After
Lindbergh Landed at Le Bourget," By LtCol Raymond H. Fredette, USAF(Ret)
-"Even in Auschwitz...Humanity Could Prevail: British POWs and Jewish
Concentration-Camp Inmates at IG Auschwitz, 1943-1945," By Joseph R.
White
-"U.S. Army Chaplain Ministry to German War Criminals at Nuremberg, 1945-
1946," By William J. Hourihan Ph.D.
-"The Emerging Biocruise Threat," By LtCol Rex R. Kiziah, USAF
-"The Looming Biological Warfare Storm: Misconceptions and Probable
Scenarios," By Col (Dr.) Jim A. Davis, USAF
-"Winged Cowboys: The Story Behind Air Mobility Command's Latest Biennial
Rodeo," By Philip Handleman
-"Defending Against the Non-State (Criminal) Soldier: Toward a Domestic
Response Network," By Robert J. Bunker Ph.D.
-"Homeland Security is a Coast Guard Mission," By CMDR Stephen E. Flynn,
USCG
-"Homeland Defense," By Adam J. Herbert
-"What Can We Learn From Enduring Freedom?" By Dr. Milan Vego
-"Combat Search and Rescue: A Longer Look," By Col Darrel Whitcomb, USAF
(Ret)
-"Pearl Harbor," By Barrett Tillman
-"Mortal Sting: How the USS HORNET Cured the Imperial Japanese Navy of
Its Victory Disease," By Edward L. Byrnes
-"No Gun Ri Revisited: Historical Lessons for Today's Army," By Brig.
General John S. Brown

I hope this proved useful, JPW

Like its model, Miller's classic "The American Puritans," "The Transcendentalists" takes all the major texts of the Transcendentalist movement, excerpts out the most important parts, and frames them with Miller's brilliant comments to the subjects. As in his books on the Puritans, Perry Miller rides the subject like nobody before or since. Still the basic introduction to the writings, "The Transcendentalists" will serve anybody wanting to move beyond Emerson or Thoreau to the lesser-known members of the movement. While the ellipses can come to annoy those who want the complete texts, Miller's anthology is still worth reading, if only because this man was the century's greatest American intellectual historian. If you haven't read Miller, you're in for a long, difficult, rewarding journey, especially in his books on the Puritans. Without a doubt, an indispensable historian.

Perry Miller, The Transcendentalists. . .

The Unitarian reliance on miracles can be expressed through an Aristotelian syllogism: a. miracles occur b. nature cannot produce miracles * c. a supernatural force must exist. To Unitarians, that supernatural force must be God. George Ripley does not doubt that miracles occur, he simply says that whether miracles occur or are "new development[s] of nature" (p. 132) mistaken for the supernatural is irrelevant to whether God exists. After all, to the 19th century observer, magnetism and electricity seemed supernatural. To Ripley, it was better not to preface one's argument for the existence of God on an unprovable premise. He therefore calls for a "better mode of examining the evidence of Christianity" (p. 132) than is employed by the Rationalist Unitarians. Instead of premising a rational argument for the existences of God on miracles, Ripley states that the "better mode" is "the study of the human consciousness" (p. 132). He suggests that a more appropriate discussion is one which discusses the meaning of the "expression, often used, but little pondered,- the Image of God in the Soul of Man" (p. 132). From a multitude of other writings, one can surmise that the existence of God need not be proven logically or externally. We carry the answer with us everyday. By immersing oneself in nature, the eternal will be discovered. Miller sees this controversy as a "crisis in modern liberalism" (p. 129). To Miller, the question was one of sincerity and true meaning of Christian doctrine. The Unitarians had rejected Original Sin; man was no longer burdened by guilt, and he was free to have dignity. But, the Unitarians said man was free to hold onto his dignity only through supernatural intervention (p. 130). Miller sees this as intellectual duplicity. While protesting a belief in its dignity, ultimately Unitarians did not trust humanity. Ripley issued a doctrinal challenge to the Unitarians to follow their own philosophy to its necessary conclusion. The Unitarian Martin Luther Hurlbut expresses the larger implications of these competing philosophies. Without ruling miracles unreal, by simply challenging their historicity, Transcendentalism challenged faith itself, and it raised a host of questions that skirted, and in the hands of the mischievous Emerson, leapt over, the line of heresy. If miracles are mere "`natural facts'" (p. 173), then what purpose is there in faith? If physical science and reason banish Christ's miracles to the dustbin of mythology, then was Jesus indeed the Messiah; was He the Saviour? Was He the Son of God? Without the miracles, Jesus becomes a wise man, even a prophet according to Emerson (p. 192), but not the Messiah, not the Son of God any more than the rest of us. More importantly, and absolutely essential to understanding the revolution in New England, is the logical conclusion of such a line of investigation: do the words of Jesus Christ, without the miracles giving them the weight of the supernatural, carry the authority of God? Miracles affirm God's role in Christ's Passion. Without the miracles, the authority of the New Testament itself is called into question. To its opponents, Transcendentalism ceased to be Christianity. The dean of Harvard Divinity School said of Emerson's Commencement Address (p. 192) "that the part if it that was not folly was downright atheism" (p. 198). Andrews Norton, perennial opponent of Ripley, et al., said, "Nothing is left that can be called Christianity, if its miraculous character be denied" (p. 211). Thus Emerson took what was a breach in the Unitarian ministry and turned it into a new, perhaps secular philosophy. And this philosophy took liberalism to its high water mark. As Brownson says:

They claim for man the power, not of discovering but of knowing the spiritual world. . . . We may know that God exists as positively, as certainly, as we may know that we feel hunger or thirst, joy or grief. . . . The unlettered ploughman is placed, so far as evidences of his religious faith are concerned, on a level with the most erudite scholar or the profoundest philosopher. Christianity by this is adapted to the masses . . . (p. 244-246).

Each person should be able to explore for him or herself (truly in Transcendentalism) "the whole field of truth, in morals, in politics, in science, in theology, in philosophy" (p. 199). In this sense, Transcendentalism, by "recognizing in man the capacity of knowing truth intuitively" (p. 246), represents the ultimate democratization of faith and ideology. Not only does each individual have the right to choose in which God to believe, but the existence of that God can only be ascertained by the intuition of the believer.

Whose home is it? Is it the home of people who were massacred for it just 60 years ago and whose homes are still now being demolished? Or is it the home of people who inhabited it over 2000 years ago. Hmmm. What a complex question it is...

As I see it, the Arab argument against Israel is fundamental. Namely, the Arabs, perhaps because they outnumber the Jews, perhaps because they have oppressed Jews in the past, and perhaps for other reasons, have a Right to Oppress Jews. That means that when Jews try to live as free people in Israel, they are committing a Fundamental Wrong. If Jews steal land from Arabs, the Jews are perpetrating a Wrong. If Jews buy land from Arabs, they are equally perpetrating a Wrong. If Jews kill Arabs, the Jews are perpetrating a Wrong. If Arabs kill Jews, the Jews are perpetrating a Wrong by being there. If Arabs are expelled by Jews, that is Wrong of the Jews. If Arabs flee from areas that Jews live in, that is also Wrong of the Jews, because it is Wrong for Jews to be there at all. And so on.

I think you either buy this argument or you do not. And I do not buy it. I think human rights for all is both a moral and practical idea. And a Right to get rid of human rights for Jews violates this concept totally.

When it comes to the so-called Arab "right of return" to Israel, I think the issue is not whether Arabs ought to be allowed to move to lands that they are interested in. Moving to the land of one's choice is (or ought to be) a right of all humans. The issue is whether Arabs ought to have a right to move to Israel on the grounds that they (or their relatives, or their ancestors, or their friends) fled or were expelled from this land in the past. And it is implied that agreement with such a right on such grounds would lend support to the argument that Jews had no right to be free people on that land in the first place.

Although many Jews moved to what is now Israel as part of a return, I feel that they did so simply as individuals: they did not ask for lower prices for land because they were returning to it; rather, they willingly paid higher prices. They asked for rights as human beings, not as returnees. Being a returnee was in fact a costly disadvantage that they put up with.

Now, what does Alon Harel have to say about all this? He begins by noting that while some Arabs feel that the "right of return" is simply a right to return to one's home, many others feel that it is simply a right to expel others from their homes. Next, he agrees that it is significant that Arabs want to be allowed to move to Israel on the grounds that they fled or were expelled from that land in the past. That's promising.

Harel says that an overlooked element of such arguments is the interests (as opposed to the desires) of the people involved. In this case, there are seven possible interests the Arabs might have in "return," namely:

- annulling a wrong
- obtaining monetary compensation
- restoring one's physical environment
- restoring one's social environment
- restoring one's civic-political status
- returning to formative territories
- settling in the most appropriate site

Harel points out that whether or not there was a wrong committed when Arabs left the Levant (or moved from one part of it to another), attempting to restore the previous status quo is unlikely to be an appropriate remedy. While Arabs may feel that a right of return would lend credence to their claim that Jews committed a Wrong (or, as I would say, to their bogus claim that Jews committed a Wrong just by existing), surely the denial of return as an appropriate solution would not in itself invalidate that claim.

As for monetary claims, Harel explains that it is obvious that these can be satisfied without a return.

What about restoring one's physical environment? That might make sense in some cases, but in the case of those who never lived on that land in the first place, Harel explains that it may be more like an attempt to create an environment that exists only in someone's dreams (not merely one that no longer exists in real life).

The restoration of one's social environment, if it is possible at all, does not require return. The restoration of civic-political status would be accomplished better with a separate state or by life in an Arab state than by a return to Israel. Returning to formative territories risks the argument that the Jews have at least as much of a claim to be doing so by going back to their homeland than the Arabs do for going to part of theirs (a less central part, in my opinion). And while Arabs may argue that Israel would be the most appropriate site to settle in, I think "return" would create such misery for Jews and Arabs alike that it would hardly be in the interests of either. Harel appears to agree.

I think we all need to treat Arabs and Jews as human beings who require human rights. And that means that "return," with the intention of getting rid of these rights, is impractical and counterproductive. It ought to be against the law. People who want to move to Israel, whether they be Jews, Arabs, Chinese, Inuit, or whatever, ought to do so as individuals. Since Israel happens to be the state of the Jews, Jews may find it easier to do so, just as Hungarians may find it easier to move to Hungary. But I feel that everyone who is willing to abide the rights of all people ought to have the chance to move to the land of their choice.

This article raises some interesting questions about a weak issue, but I think it is still worth reading.