America and the Founding of Israel: An Investigation of the Morality of America’s Role is well written, with a chronological account in detail followed by a concise summary of the moral issues that are pertinent and how what has been examined relates to them. John Mulhall writes about the sensitive issues surrounding America and the founding of the state of Israel is a straight from the shoulder way. With excellent documentation and quotes from people who had major influence in the events that have shaped our present-day situation, we are presented with American politics that have long escaped attention and public scrutiny.
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Jim Miles
Ilan Pappe’s work The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine places him in the forefront of the recent burst of excellent information that critically examines and condemns the Jewish-Zionist actions to eliminate not only the people of Palestine but also to eliminate their history culturally and geographically. Following on his previous well researched and readily accessible work A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples, his latest work, focuses on the concept generated from the very earliest Zionist thought in the Nineteenth century, making the ‘cleansing’ of Palestinian territories a necessity for the survival of the Jewish state.
It is a history made personal. Pappe does not just recount the series of events, and the sequence they occurred in but makes the story become real through the views of Israeli individuals and the views of individual Palestinians. Israel has hidden its war criminals well, out in the open, blatant, the clear majority of their political leaders having served in the military in one capacity or another to facilitate the ‘cleansing’ of their desired state. Using archival references from various Israeli sources as well as the personal diaries of those involved, in particular David Ben-Gurion, a personal encounter with the perpetrators of the genocide is created. That encounter displays a strong-willed double standard that accepted no interference with the ultimate goal of Eretz Israel for Jews only.
It is a history made personal on the Palestinian side, with stories in photos and anecdotes from the dispossessed population, stories of their life style before their evictions or murder and stories of the cultural geography of the many towns and villages that have been erased from both the physical and cultural geography of the larger area.
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Puan Zarina Nalla (MPF)
Dr Azzam Tamimi’s most recent book; Hamas Unwritten Chapters, is indeed very timely. It comes almost 10 months after Hamas; the Islamic Resistance Movement in Palestine, made a sweeping victory in an election that was unequivocally democratic” bewildering political pundits, making political observers sit up, overturning many assumptions both regionally and globally.
The surprise electoral victory has in fact, led to a renewed interest in Hamas. What does the movement stand for? How did it begin? What do the Palestinians see in them? Who was Sheikh Ahmed Yaasin? Are suicide bombers in the context of Palestine, martyrs or not? These are undoubtedly valid and honest pertinent questions , and those who genuinely seek a clearer and accurate picture of the current conflict, will appreciate Dr Tamimi’s book.
He writes objectively and illuminates a subject which has often been described solely from the Israeli and Western perspective whose analyses often betray HAMAS and its genuine struggle towards peace.
The book traces the origin of Hamas from its birth fifteen years ago at the beginning of the first intifada. It meticulously details the influence of its exiled leadership in Syria and elsewhere, and its internal organisational hierarchy and structure.
The rules and conditions of Madrid 1991, Oslo 1993 or The Road Map have denied the Palestinians their inalienable rights and stripped them of any form of humanity and dignity. The late Edward Said in his book titled, “The End of the Peace Process” (1994) highlighted the failures and injustices of Oslo 1993.
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Following his #1 New York Times bestseller, Our Endangered Values, the former president, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, offers an assessment of what must be done to bring permanent peace to Israel with dignity and justice to Palestine in his latest work, “Palestine Peace Not Apartheid“.
President Carter, who was able to negotiate peace between Israel and Egypt, has remained deeply involved in Middle East affairs since leaving the White House. He has stayed in touch with the major players from all sides in the conflict and has made numerous trips to the Holy Land, most recently as an observer in the Palestinian elections of 2005 and 2006.
In this book President Carter shares his intimate knowledge of the history of the Middle East and his personal experiences with the principal actors, and he addresses sensitive political issues many American officials avoid. Pulling no punches, Carter prescribes steps that must be taken for the two states to share the Holy Land without a system of apartheid or the constant fear of terrorism.
Below some of Carter’s key statements are reproduced.
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The Israeli-Palestinian war has been called the world’s most intractable conflict. It is by now a commonplace that the only way to end the violence is to divide the territory in two, and all efforts at a resolution have come down to haggling over who gets what: Will Israel hand over 90 percent of the West Bank or only 60 percent? Will a Palestinian state include any part of Jerusalem?
Continue reading ‘One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse’