Synopses & Reviews
'The only way to make sense of Israel"s senseless war in Gaza is through understanding the historical context. Establishing the state of Israel in May 1948 involved a monumental injustice to the Palestinians. I write as someone who served loyally in the Israeli army in the mid-1960s and who has never questioned the legitimacy of the state of Israel within its pre-1967 borders. What I utterly reject is the Zionist colonial project beyond the Green Line. The Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of the June 1967 war had very little to do with security and everything to do with territorial expansionism. The aim was to establish Greater Israel through permanent political, economic and military control over the Palestinian territories. And the result has been one of the most prolonged and brutal military occupations of modern times.'
'"Avi Shlaim, from Israel and Palestine
With characteristic rigor and readability, Avi Shlaim reflects on a range of key issues, transformations and personalities in the Israel-Palestine conflict. From the 1917 Balfour Declaration to the failure of the Oslo peace process, from the 1948 War to the 2008 invasion of Gaza, Israel and Palestineplaces current events in their proper historical perspective. It assesses the impact of key political and intellectual figures, including Yasir Arafat and Ariel Sharon, Edward Said and Benny Morris; it also re-examines the United States" influential role in the conflict, and explores the many missed opportunities for peace and progress in the region. Clear-eyed and meticulous, Israel and Palestineis an essential tool for understanding the fractured history and future prospects of Israel-Palestine.
Review
Highly recommended: Everyone interested in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—general readers and academics alike—will want to consult this book.
Review
"Avi Shlaim is the sort of historian every country needs. An exposer of national myths, the supreme scholar of Arab-Israeli negotiations." Philip Mansel
Review
"Not often today do we find historians who are this honest and this bleak and this able—for some reason, I think here of T. S. Eliot’s essays—to express truth so simply." Spectator
Review
"Provides even the hardened student with some new perspectives." Robert Fisk Independent
Review
"Noted historian Shlaim presents a collection of hard-hitting pieces about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict....Shlaim is an important, sage, reasoned voice on the course of Israeli-Palestinian relations." The Economist
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"One of the best and most illuminating accounts of Arab-Israeli relations in years." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Fascinating … Shlaim presents compelling evidence for a re-evaluation of traditional Israeli history." Foreign Affairs
Synopsis
A KirkusBest Book of the Year 2009: acclaimed reflections on the causes and consequences of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Synopsis
Avi Shlaim, one of the world’s foremost experts on the Israel-Palestine conflict, reflects with characteristic rigour and readability on a range of key issues and personalities. From the 1917 Balfour Declaration to the failure of the Oslo peace process, from the 1948 War to the 2008 invasion of Gaza,
Israel and Palestine places current events in their proper historical perspective. It assesses the impact of key political and intellectual figures, including Yasir Arafat and Ariel Sharon, Edward Said and Benny Morris. It also re-examines the United States’ influential role in the conflict, and explores the many missed opportunities for peace and progress in the region.
Clear-eyed and meticulous, Israel and Palestine is an essential tool for understanding the fractured history and future prospects of Israel-Palestine.
Synopsis
Reflections on the causes and consequences of the Israel-Palestine conflict, by the author of The Iron Wall.
Synopsis
Avi Shlaim, one of the world's foremost experts on the Israel–Palestine conflict, reflects with characteristic rigour and readability on a range of key issues and personalities. From the 1917 Balfour Declaration to the failure of the Oslo peace process, from the 1948 War to the 2008 invasion of Gaza,
Israel and Palestine places current events in their proper historical perspective. It assesses the impact of key political and intellectual figures, including Yasir Arafat and Ariel Sharon, Edward Said and Benny Morris. It also re-examines the United States’ influential role in the conflict, and explores the many missed opportunities for peace and progress in the region.
Clear-eyed and meticulous, Israel and Palestine is an essential tool for understanding the fractured history and future prospects of Israel-Palestine.
About the Author
Avi Shlaim is a Fellow of St. Anthony’s College and a professor of international relations at the University of Oxford. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2006. His books include Lion of Jordan: The Life of King Hussein in War and Peace; War and Peace in the Middle East: A Concise History; The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World; and Israel and Palestine: Reappraisals, Revisions, Refutations. He lives in Oxford.