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04.12.01, 21:04
Books on Israel/Palestine
This gripping account chronicles an extraordinary chapter in modern
Palestinian history - the revolt against the Israeli occupation known as the
Intifada - from euphoric inception to bitter defeat.
In it, Norman G. Finkelstein an American Jew whose parents were survivors of
the Nazi death camps, focuses on the daily lives of the Palestinians to whom he
became close during his time in the Middle East.
Finkelstein discusses two very different Palestinian families - one from the
Christian Palestinian village of Beit Sahour outside Bethlehem, the other from
Fawwar refugee camp outside Hebron. Throughout, Finkelstein provides unique
insight into the names and faces behind the conflict, and the human toll of the
negotiated peace
"In the best sense of the old term, Norman Finkelstein has fulfilled an
obligation to 'witness.'"
— Christopher Hitchens
Columnist for Vanity Fair and The Nation
"This book is that very rare thing, a book of human experience informed by
massive historical scholarship, prodigiously detailed political analysis, and
exceptional wisdom. I do not know any book like it that deals so intimately and
yet so clearly with the tragic quandaries of the Palestinian situation."
— Edward W. Said
Columbia University
"Critical and very well informed... The Rise and Fall of Palestine is also
quite unusual, virtually unique, because of the rich framework of past and
current history that Finkelstein brings to bear in a most illuminating way,
because of the interweaving of very thoughtful (and often moving) personal
experiences, and because of the singular nature of Finkelstein's perspective,
which is sharply different from those that dominate discussions of the
situation in Palestine."
— Noam Chomsky
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
********************
In this timely and polemical study, Norman G. Finkelstein critically surveys
the dominant popular and scholarly images of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Finkelstein opens with a theoretical discussion of Zionism, locating it as a
Romantic form of nationalism that assumed the bankruptcy of liberal democracy.
He goes on to look at the demographic origins of the Palestinians, with
particular reference to the work of Joan Peters, and develops critiques of the
influential studies of both Benny Morris and Anita Shapira. Reviewing the
diplomatic history with Aban Eban's massive oeuvre as his foil, Finkelstein
closes by demonstrating that the casting of Israel as the innocent victim of
Arab aggression in the June 1967 and October 1973 wars is not supported by the
documentary record.
"Norman Finkelstein is one of the most radical and hard-hitting critics of the
official Zionist version of the Arab-Israeli conflict and of the historians who
support this version. In [Image and Reality] he launches a frontal attack not
just on Zionist thinking but on Israel's policy towards the Arabs since 1948.
His work is scholarly, incisive and highly original, but the quality that
really stands out is his intellectual integrity. The book makes a major
contribution to the study of the Arab-Israeli conflict and deserves to be
widely read, especially in the United States."
"Norman Finkelstein is one of the most radical and hard-hitting critics of the
official Zionist version of the Arab-Israeli conflict and of the historians who
support this version. In [Image and Reality] he launches a frontal attack not
just on Zionist thinking but on Israel's policy towards the Arabs since 1948.
His work is scholarly, incisive and highly original, but the quality that
really stands out is his intellectual integrity. The book makes a major
contribution to the study of the Arab-Israeli conflict and deserves to be
widely read, especially in the United States."
— Avi Shlaim
St Antony's College, Oxford University
"In Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict Norman Finkelstein
challenges generally accepted 'truths' about the problem as well as much of the
recent 'revisionist' literature that attempts to rewrite its history. The book
is well documented, offering a credible basis for further discussion of the
conflict."
— Don Peretz
Binghamton University
"Anyone interested in seeing justice brought to the Middle East must
read 'Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict'."
— Charles Glass
former ABC News Middle East correspondent.
