The Prime Ministers: An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership by Yehuda Avner Published by Toby Press, pp. price £19.99 This is a work of recollections, reminiscences and vignettes. Yehuda Avner’s life spans the lifetime of the state of Israel – and in one sense, he tells the traditional story from his earliest days in … Read more
Jonathan Schanzer. Hamas vs. Fatah: The Struggle for Palestine. Palgrave Macmillan. London & New York. 2008. pp. 256. During the early part of the Gaza war of 2009. Amira Hass. the Israeli journalist known for her incisive commentary on the Palestinian territories and often accused of pro-Palestinian sympathies. wrote that Hamas operatives had begun to … Read more
A History of Palestine: From the Ottoman Conquest to the Founding of the State of Israel, by Gudrun Kramer, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008, xiii þ 357 pp., ISBN 978-0-691-11897-0 This work is an overview of the history of Palestine up to 1948. The author, Gudrun Kra¨mer, a distinguished Professor of Islamic Studies in Berlin, … Read more
The Distortion of Zionism Zionism is often seen by the left in perjorative terms today. Yet more often than not, such prejudice is based on ignorance rather than knowledge and understanding. Significantly, Peace Now, the grassroots mass movement which has a long history of protest against support for the settlements is never characterised as … Read more
1948: The First Arab-Israeli War by Benny Morris Published by Yale University Press, 524pp. Benny Morris has the unique distinction of being criticised and often vilified by both Israelis and Palestinians because of his interpretation of the war of 1948 – and especially his appraisal of the exodus of around 6-700,000 Palestinian refugees. Thus, … Read more
Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis Bat Ye’or Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2005 384 pp., pb. $23.95/£17.50, ISBN 083864077X; hb. $49.50/£36.50, ISBN 0838640761 The Israel–Palestine conflict is an obstacle placed in the path of Jewish-Muslim dialogue in Europe. But in this book there is no indication that there are two narratives to this tortuous conflict … Read more
THE MURDER OF YITZHAK Rabin on 4 November 1995 was a watershed in the campaign of incitement of the Israeli far right against the Oslo Agreement. Yigal Amir, Rabin’s assassin, was not considered insane or unbalanced before the killing, merely another right wing activist supporting the settlers. He was swept along by the rising tide … Read more
I am sitting at home, writing about David Ben-Gurion’s historic debate with Agudat Israel about a constitution for the new state of Israel, when the telephone rings. A colleague from Israel asks if I’m OK. “OK? Everyone’s fine.” A silence. “You had better watch the BBC,” he says. “There have been explosions in London.” A … Read more
Just over one year ago, Ariel Sharon was returned as Prime Minister of Israel in an election in which the Likud and its allies easily attained a blocking majority of 61 seats in the Knesset. The candidate of the Labour Party, the dovish Amram Mitzna, was effectively trounced and resigned his position shortly afterwards. During … Read more
The Embarrassment of Zionism As the conference season swings into top gear, there is a plethora of motions condemning the Sharon government. The TUC recently called for probable sanctions against Israel and the Labour Party will follow suit. Yet many Israelis also believe that Sharon has no peace plan and no vision of … Read more