Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-1998
Author: Benny Morris
"Righteous Victims, is a comprehensive and objective history of the long battle between Arabs and Jews for possession of a land they both call home." "Professor Morris finds the roots of this conflict in the deep religious, ethnic, and political differences between the Zionist immigrants and the native Arab population of Palestine." "Tracing the successes and failures of politicians, generals, and diplomats in both camps, he regards their actions and plight with accuracy and empathy, drawing on archival materials, memoirs, and secondary works to give a vivid account of each major military encounter - and of the vicissitudes of peace efforts from the post-1948 negotiations through the Camp David (1977-79), Oslo (1993-95), and Wye River Plantation (1998) accords." Righteous Victims ends with Mr. Morris's analysis of the current state of play, when the election of Ehud Barak as prime minister (May 1999) has opened the door to a renewal of negotiations between Israel and its Palestinian and Syrian neighbors.
New York Times Book Review - Ethan Bronner
A significant history of Zionism.... A first-class work of history, bringing together the latest scholarship. It is likely to stand for some time as the most sophisticated and nuanced account of the Zionist-Arab conflict from its beginnings in the 1880's....Morris is almost never judgmental and takes great pains to show complexity, coincidence and skepticism.
Publishers Weekly
Like Avi Shlaim (see above), Morris is a revisionist historian working to deflate the heroic-romantic Zionist view of Israeli history. A professor of history at Israel's Ben-Gurion University, Morris (The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem) offers readers a more scholarly, rigorous book than either Shlaim or the authors of The Fifty Years War (see above). He also takes a longer and a deeper view, detailing relations between Israel and the Arabs since the beginning of the modern Zionist movement in the late 19th century and digging beneath politics and diplomacy to get at the broader social and cultural history of Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jews. One of his central points is that the very success of Israel as a state has allowed the Palestinians to appropriate the identity of history's victims--an identity once central to Israelis' view of themselves. Morris makes very clear how Israel's military and economic successes have slowly forced most of the Arab world to accept a Jewish state. At the same time, he notes the irony that the triumph of Zionism helped create a distinct Palestinian national identity that didn't previously exist. His view of Zionism is almost detached as he documents its successes. He has no trouble calling Zionism a "colonizing" movement, but he doesn't strongly condemn it for being so. His harsh judgment that a "fragmented, venal political elite" retarded the Palestinian cause does not make him deny the merits of the cause. Crisply written, balanced and comprehensive, this is an indispensable work of history. History Book Club alternate selection. (Sept.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
This ambitious book seeks to cover more than a century of Zionist-Arab conflict in a single volume. Morris (history, Ben-Gurion Univ.), the author of several books on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, relies on a vast array of sources in Hebrew, Arabic, and English to write a meticulously researched, admirably balanced, and highly readable tome. All major events in the tortuous history of the Arab-Israeli conflict are covered. The author displays a remarkable grasp of the history of the Zionist-Arab conflict and an analytical style that is devoid of the polemics that have characterized so many books on this subject. Essential reading for anyone interested in the Arab-Israeli conflict and in the future of the peace process in the region.--Nader Entessar, Spring Hill Coll., Mobile, AL Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Booknews
Presents a detailed and objective history of the long battle between Jews and Arabs for possession of a land they both call home. Finds the root of this conflict in the deep religious, ethnic, and political differences between Zionist immigrants and the native Arab population of Palestine, and describes population movements, wars, and the rise of fundamentalist religious movements on both sides. Traces the successes and failures of generals, politicians, and diplomats, drawing on archival materials, memoirs, and secondary works to give a vivid account of military encounters and peace negotiations. Ends with an analysis of the impact of the May 1999 election. The author is a professor of history at Ben-Gurion University, Israel. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Kirkus Reviews
A highly interesting, quite comprehensive, yet also at times jaundiced history of the military and diplomatic aspects of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Morris (History/Ben-Gurion Univ., Israel; The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947–1949, not reviewed), Israel's leading revisionist historian, continues to debunk some of his country's most cherished myths. Concerning Israel's War of Independence, for example, he notes that, contrary to the popular belief, the fledgling nation enjoyed clear military and strategic superiority. His coverage of the recurrent military conflicts is clear, detailed, and otherwise outstanding. But Morris's highly critical view of the Zionist movement and the Jewish state is highly problematic, particularly because it involves a selective marshaling of some historical evidence. For example, he claims that David Ben-Gurion and many other Zionist/Israeli leaders favored the "transfer" of Arabs out of Palestine. The expulsion of tens, and possibly hundreds, of thousands of Palestinian Arabs unquestionably did take place during the War of Independence and Six Day War. Yet as Morris himself makes clear, the term "transfer" conflates advocacy of a planned, possibly compensated exchange of populations and an abrupt expulsion of Arabs. In addition, Morris demonstrates that there was, at best, an inconsistent, often only rhetorical advocacy of transfer. While relating Israeli human-rights violations and atrocities against Arabs, Morris also scants corresponding Palestinian and other Arab acts. Thus, there is almost no mention of the fact that, during the Jordanian occupation of the old city of Jerusalem, all synagogues and other Jewish holy sites were desecrated.Morris generally has a fine sense of historical narrative and, at times, a knack for a telling phrase (he notes of the Arab states that "in 1973 and 1992, they ultimately managed to turn limited military defeat into limited political victory"). Yet his long history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, well documented, highly informative, and fluidly composed as it is, lacks the balance that a less polemical historian might produce. (For another Israeli revisionist history, see Avi Shlaim, The Iron Wall, p. 1294.) (History Book Club alternate selection)
Interesting textbook: Volkswirtschaft der Strategie
The Hidden Dimension
Author: Edward Twitchell Hall
An examination of various cultural concepts of space and how differences among them affect modern society. Introducing the science of "proxemics," Hall demonstrates how man's use of space can affect personal business relations, cross-cultural exchanges, architecture, city planning, and urban renewal.
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