Arabs & Israel for Beginners

by Ron David

Book Overview

Arabs & Israel For Beginners covers the Middle East from ancient times to the present, tells the truth in plain English, and is one of the few non-scholarly books that is relentlessly fair to both... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0863161618
• ISBN13: 9780863161612
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: Writers & Readers Publishing
• Length: 8 Pages
• Weight: 0.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

What the book addresses about Palestine

This book brings an argument of old saying "There is or was no such thing as Palestine" and goes into great detail of history both biblical and historical facts. Thing is people want to believe what they want to believe because their minds are made up before they read the book. If they even read it fully. The only agenda the author is using is telling the truth. Only thing is...the truth hurts. Many will deny it and only a few will accept it.

Loved for its truth, hated for its reality

Arabs and Israel for Beginners is, bar none, the best introduction to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict currently available. Some reviewers hate it, others love it, and it isn't hard to understand why. This book documents a painful reality that is hated by those it condemns but loved by seekers of truth and justice. If we identify this book's critics with their ideological prejudices we quickly realize each of their cries of protest, rather than representing a valid criticism, in fact validates the truth of the content. As John Toland once wrote, "This conduct, on the contrary, will make them suspect all to be a cheat and imposture, because men will naturally cry out when they are touched in a tender part . . . no man will be angry at a question who's able to answer it. . . ." And "answer it," they most certainly do not. None of this book's detractors refute the well-documented facts presented therein, for the simple reason that they cannot. Truth stands firm against deceit. Arabs and Israel for Beginners should not be rated five stars, but 220 stars -- one for each page. Furthermore, the authors deserve recognition for their bravery in standing up to one of the greatest disinformation campaigns of the modern age. Considering how the discussed issues are reshaping our world, this book is not simply an informative read: It's a must-read!

Every fact in the book is easily verifiable--and it is the truth!

ARABS & ISRAEL FOR BEGINNERS tells the truth, plainly and simply, without fancy talk and without evasions. Statements about Israel's origin usually begin with "Israel was 'established'..." Of course nobody knows exactly what is meant by "established"--so I will tell you exactly what that intentionally evasive word means. In 1896, because of anti-Semitism in France, Theodor Herzl wrote the book "The Jewish State" in which he argued that Jews would never be allowed to assimilate, so they should build their own country. He suggested that they build their new country in Palestine, a place that only a handful of Jews lived in since the time of Christ. Jews, following Herzl's plan (and paid for by wealthy guys who pay others to take the risks involved in stealing someone else's country) began moving to Palestine by the hundreds and demanding that Palestine be turned into a Jewish country. In 1919, after World War 1, US President Woodrow Wilson sent a fact finding group, The King-Crane Commission, to Palestine to "ascertain the wishes of the people." In accordance with the principles of Democracy, President Wilson sent the commission to count the population of Palestine--and ask them what THEY wanted. Fact: Even after 25 years of intensive immigration to Palestine, Jews constituted less than 10% of the population of Palestine. Fact: 90% of the population was (to state the obvious) PALESTINIAN! Fact: The King-Crane Commission reported to President Wilson that 90% of the population of Palestine were Palestinian--Arabs--who had lived in the same place for hundreds of years and did NOT want their country turned into a Jewish country. The King Crane Commission recommended that: 1) Jews must find another place to put a Jewish country; 2) To put a Jewish country in Palestine would trespass on the religious and civil rights of the existing population; 3) Proof of the unfairness of the situation (they said) was the fact that it could only be maintained by a large military or police force. 90 years later and the country Israel "borrowed" from Palestine still has to be maintained a large military/police force--Israel's occupying army. President Wilson passed on his commission's recommendation--the Jewish people must find another place to put their country. That was in 1919. The Zionists (the Jewish zealots) ignored President Wilson and kept moving Jews into Palestine and putting pressure on anyone they could. In 1948, the United Nations voted to "partition" Palestine, giving two-thirds of it to Zionists/Israel--DESPITE THE FACTS THAT: 1) The Palestinians had a two-to-one majority in population; 2) Jews owned less than 7% of Palestine; 3) the Palestinians had lived in Palestine for hundreds of years. Giving two-thirds of Palestine to Zionists was an insult to Democracy. It was blatant stealing, legalized theft. Please don't take my word for it. All of the population numbers I have given, along with the basic facts of the King Crane Commission and the Uni

Crucial reading as the West starts another Middle East war

As someone who worked as a UN-employed doctor in the Gaza Strip for two years, I have first hand experience of life under Israeli military occupation. Although this book does not cover the very recent history of the conflict between Israel and the Arabs, it is probably the best summary I have read in the forty years since I began reading books and articles about the history and politics of the Palestinian/Israeli tragedy. As the West prepares to start a second war in the Middle East, there is now open discussion within and outside Israel about the need to ethnically cleanse the territories that Israel has occupied illegally and colonized since 1967. Apologists for the policies of Israel - a nation with weapons of mass destruction, which flouts international law and ignores its responsibilities under the 4th Geneva Convention - do nothing to secure the long term future of Israelis. A common tactic used to respond to critics of Israeli policies - including Jewish critics - is to suggest that they are anti-semites! This book will help people to understand just how cheap a tactic this is. It does nothing for the image of Jews and Judaism to imply that the interests of the religion and its adherents coincide with the interests of a colonialist state created in the 20th century. For people who want to understand the expansionist nature of the Zionist project, there is no better place to start than Ron and Susan David's excellent book. I hope they publish an updated edition, and that their work does not become yet another victim of censorship and suppression of views questioning the moral credentials of Zionism.

An amazing book

This is the best book I've read so far this year ... it should be required reading for all Israelis and Americans, who are consistently only given one side of the story. That's kind of what the book is all about ... what we're *not* being told. This book tells it loud and clear, and backs it up with impeccable references.I can't recommend it enough... it is needed now more than ever. I will read through it once more (it's a very quick read) and will then start lending it to all my friends.