Jan Dvorak

A great book filled with historical facts elucidating the many unknowns of the Israeli-Arab conflict. First and foremost, the authors, hailing from the Israeli left, make the case that most Arabs in Palestine have never condoned the very existence of a Jewish state, however small. They show that despite the common narrative of today, the conflict has always been assessed as primarily religious by the Arabs - ever since the partition plan of 1947, the vision of the long oppressed Jewish underdog shaking off the shackles of Dhimma to become a powerful and self-confident actor of his destiny has been the ultimate humiliation to the Arabs. Hence the fanatical determination to erase Israel from the map, shared by Hamas and the PLO alike. Hence the refusal to find an agreement, the incessant waging war on Israel, followed by the self-victimizing propaganda. Hence the squandering of several opportunities to have an additional state of their own (yes, additional as the collapse of the empires and mandates had already resulted in there being several Arab states). The authors also remind two basic facts, namely : 1) a nation state is necessary for the exercise of democracy and 2) Zionism is primarily a national liberation movement and not a religious aspiration.