Reading List
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Myths and Facts: A Guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict The definitive fact book, well organized and well researched, on the key issues underlying the conflict. An excellent reference. |
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Zev Chafets spent a year exploring the bond between Jews and Christian evangelicals and their common love for Israel. The result – “equal parts history, comedy, travelogue, and political tract” — is an informative, engaging, and entertaining report. |
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The Case for Israel Dershowitz is “an ardent, eloquent, but not always uncritical defender of Israel. This book is written in the form of a legal brief. He does not seek to defend particular policies of the current Israeli government. In fact, Dershowitz has frequently criticized some Israeli policies toward Palestinians, particularly regarding West Bank settlements. Rather, here he attempts to rebut what he views as the more general and blatantly discriminatory criticisms of Israel as a state and culture. [...] Dershowitz is a passionate but generally fair and honest advocate for his position.” –Booklist |
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Understanding the Holy Land: Answering questions about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is unlike any other situation in the world today. It’s in the news daily, can spark intense emotional arguments, and influences American foreign policy. Yet, a real understanding of this heated conflict is hard to come by. Mitch Frank offers straightforward explanations and answers to questions from “What is intifada?” to “Why is peace so hard?,” carefully covering the significant developments of this complex disagreement. |
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Never Again? Anti-Semitism remains a pernicious form of ethnic and religious intolerance and an assault on the fundamentals of human dignity and human rights. Exploring the history of anti-Semitism and providing the first comprehensive examination of the new rampant anti-Jewish sentiment worldwide, Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, offers a crucial discussion of the steps that must be taken to prevent this century from witnessing a replay of the horrors of the last. |
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Coming Together, Coming Apart: A Memoir of Heartbreak and Promise in Israel A touching first-hand account of daily and family life in Jerusalem under the constant cloud of terrorism. |
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by Stephanie Gutmann
An excellent overview of the media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, explaining how journalists develop and communicate their viewpoints regarding the situation.
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View from the Eye of the Storm: Terror and Reason in the Middle East An insightful and humerous view at life in Israel through the eyes of a “proverbial taxi driver.” |
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Palestine Betrayed A detailed and thoughtful analysis, grounded in historical documents, of the sources and causes of the Jewish-Arab confrontation and appropriation in Palestine from the 1920s to the 1947 U.N. Partition resolution.
[See here for a review by Daniel Pipes in National Review.]
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Right to Exist: A Moral Defense of Israel’s Wars “Lozowick, a historian and former peace activist, convincingly asserts that Israel is struggling against opponents whose goal is the eventual destruction of the Jewish state. In examining the entire history of the Zionist enterprise, he illustrates both the moral justification of that enterprise and of the wars Israelis have been compelled to fight to preserve their independence. [....] An eloquent and necessary justification of Israel’s right to defend itself.”–Booklist |
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Exile A work of fiction — a novel — that uses as a backdrop the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A good introduction to the narratives of each sides, the complexities of the situation, and the challenges of finding a solution — presented in a page-turner political thriller. |
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by Joan Peters
A meticulously researched historic and demographic study of Arab and Jewish immigration to Palestine. Peters explores the foreign roots of the Arab refugees called Palestinians, immigrants disguised as “indigenous native Palestinian Arabs.” She also demonstrates that “for every Arab refugee who left Israel in 1948, there was a Jewish refugee who fled or was expelled from his Arab birthplace at the same time.”
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by Dennis Ross
“The ultimate insider’s account of the roller-coaster ride of the Middle East peace process from 1988 to the breakdown of talks in 2001. More than anything else, Ross, the chief U.S. negotiator for Presidents Bush 41 and Clinton, has written an epic diplomat’s handbook.”
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Start-Up Nation by Dan Senor and Saul Singer A fascinating expert look at Israel’s meteoric rise in the global economy — with timely hints for a world reeling from financial crisis How is it that Israel — a country of 7.1 million, surrounded by enemies, in a constant state of war, with no natural resources — produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful nations like Canada, Japan, China, India, and the U.K.? With the savvy of foreign policy insiders, Senor and Singer examine Israeli culture and government to reveal the secrets behind the world’s first ever “start-up nation.” As countries across the globe restart their own economies, and as businesses try to re-energize their entrepreneurial spirit, we can all look to Israel for some impressive, surprising clues. |
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Company C: An American’s Life as a Citizen-Soldier in Israel
by Haim Watzman
What is the Israeli military really like? How does a liberal-minded American, who is also an Orthodox Jew, fit in? A fascinating first-hand account.
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by Alexander Yakobson and Amnon Rubinstein
(Reviewed by Seth J. Frantzman in Middle East Quarterly, Fall 2009) |
Other Lists:
- Daniel Gordis: “What Should I Read?”
