Synopses & Reviews
Based on his reading of top-secret files of the Israeli police and the prime minister's office, Hillel Cohen exposes the full extent of the crucial, and, until now, willfully hidden history of Palestinian collaboration with Israelisand#151;and of the Arab resistance to it. Cohen's previous book, the highly acclaimed Army of Shadows,told how this hidden history played out from 1917 to 1948, and now, in Good Arabs he focuses on the system of collaborators established by Israel in each and every Arab community after the 1948 war. Covering a broad spectrum of attitudes and behaviors, Cohen brings together the stories of activists, mukhtars, collaborators, teachers, and sheikhs, telling how Israeli security agencies penetrated Arab communities, how they obtained collaboration, how national activists fought them, and how deeply this activity influenced daily life. When this book was first published in Hebrew, it became a bestseller and has evoked bitter memories and intense discussions among Palestinians in Israel and prompted the reclassification of many of the hundreds of documents Cohen viewed to uncover a story that continues to unfold to this day.
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and#8220;Paints a remarkably balanced and comprehensive picture. It is a fascinating tale, but his account . . . does not make for pleasant reading.and#8221;
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and#8220;The bookand#8217;s power derives from its resonance for the present day, and the way that it illuminates the attitude that Israel has taken and#8211; and still takes and#8211; toward the Palestinians.and#8221;
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and#8220;A fascinating study . . . with revelations about the past that help explain later developments between the State and Israeli Arabs.and#8221;
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and#8220;Excellent book. . . . Good Arabs achieves an unusual poignancy.and#8221;
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"Highly recommended."--Choice
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and#8220;Readers will be engaged and informed by his skillful narrative and analysis of a much-contended topic.and#8221;
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and#8220;This is a very important study, scholarly yet accessible to all levels of readers.and#8221;
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“Excellent book. . . . Good Arabs achieves an unusual poignancy.” Assoc Of Jewish Libraries Nwsltr
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“This book sensitively and convincingly illuminates the complexity of life as an ‘Israeli Arab. The Jerusalem Report
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“Highly recommended.” Ilana Feldman - American Historical Review
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and#8220;This book was, understandably, a best-seller in Israel.and#8221;
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and#8220;This book sensitively and convincingly illuminates the complexity of life as an and#8216;Israeli Araband#8217;.
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and#8220;Highly recommended.and#8221;
Synopsis
"A fascinating story. . . . With the publication of this book, we can abandon several accepted clichand#233;s."and#151;
Ha'aretz"While many Israelisand#151;Jews and Palestinians alikeand#151;already had a sense that these shadowplays were part of the state's history, Aravim Tovim (Good Arabs) supplies the evidence. Case after case is summoned to illustrate how collaboration permeated all aspects of Palestinian society."and#151;The Nation
"The impressive achievement of this timely book is its equal and honest treatment of the explosive issues involved in spite of an often agonizing conflict of interestsand#151;and its articulation of the author's findings with empathy, boldness and fairness."and#151;Jerusalem Post
About the Author
Hillel Cohen is Research Fellow at the Harry S. Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the author of Army of Shadows: Palestinian Collaborators with Zionism 1917-1948 (UC Press), The Present Absentees: Palestinian Refugees in Israel since 1948, and The Marketplace is Empty: The Rise and Fall of Arab Jerusalem 1967-2007.
Table of Contents
Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Beginning a Beautiful Friendship: The Rise of the Collaborator Class
2. Communists vs. the Military Government,
Collaborators vs. the Communists
3. Boundary Breakers: Infiltrators, Smugglers, Spies
4. The Land
5. The Battle of the Narrative: Symbols, Pronouncements, Teachers
6. Minorities within a Minority: Dilemmas of Identity
7. Circles of Control, Circles of Resistance
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index