Israel and Palestine: Reappraisals, Revisions, Refutations

by Avi Shlaim

Book Overview

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... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1844676560
• ISBN13: 9781844676569
• Release Date: November 2010
• Publisher: Verso
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.1" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Fine study of the Israel/Palestine conflict

Avi Shlaim, professor of international relations at Oxford University, is the author of The iron wall, the best book on Israel's relations with its neighbours. This erudite work is a collection of articles that were originally published in the Journal of Palestine Studies and the London Review of Books. Part 1 comprises ten articles on the 1948 war and after, Part 2 ten articles on the Oslo Accord of September 1993 and beyond, Part 3 five articles on the breakdown of the peace process, and Part 4 five articles looking at the current situation from various perspectives. He identifies three main watersheds, each the subject of heated debate: the founding of Israel, the 6-Day war of June 1967 and the Oslo Accord. Israeli governments usually oppose a Palestinian state and a return to its 1967 borders, even though, as Shlaim argues, ending the occupation of the West Bank would enhance Israel's security. The Oslo Accord, negotiated by Israelis and Palestinians, with virtually no US or EU involvement, was a great step forward towards creating a Palestinian state. But tragically Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his successor Ehud Olmert wrecked the Accord, as Shlaim shows. Shlaim recognises that the Iraq war had `no solid basis in international law' and that the invasion did not help to resolve the Israel/Palestine conflict or promote democracy in the Middle East. You don't end one illegal occupation by starting another. Shlaim argues that Israel's brutal military occupation of Gaza was `deliberate de-development'. The USA and the EU helped the Israeli state by imposing sanctions on Gaza, not on the occupier but on the occupied. As Shlaim writes, "The development of local industry was actively impeded so as to make it impossible for the Palestinians to end their subordination to Israel and to establish the economic underpinnings essential for real political independence." In 2005-8, 11 Israelis were killed by rocket fire from Gaza; in 2005-7, the Israeli Defense Force killed 1,290 Palestinians in Gaza, including 222 children. In November 2008, Israel broke the ceasefire which had held for four months. In its 22-day attack on Gaza, 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed. Bush and Blair backed the attack and opposed UN calls for a ceasefire. Shlaim concludes, "A rogue state habitually violates international law, possesses weapons of mass destruction and practises terrorism - the use of violence against civilians for political purposes. Israel fulfils all of these three criteria."

illuminating work on seemingly intractable situation

It goes without saying that the situation of Israel and Palestine is one of the most contentious political, ethnic, social problems that brings out the extremes of emotions for even those with several degrees of separation from the problem. One can notice that from the reviews one encounters on literature for one group or another is praised emphatically by sympathizers and bashed by the opposition, usually irrespective of the content. That being said, moving onto this book, it is an important and illuminating read. It is important to note that this book intends to be a fairly complete overview of the conflict, its origins and evolution. It focuses on some aspects more than others and is not a complete analysis of any particular point in time (in the sense of discussing opposition and rebuttals and re-rebuttals etc) but the book essentially assumes no prior knowledge. The author starts with the foundations of the formation of Israel, the motivations both from global political perspectives as well as zionist perspective and the local arab perspective. Avi starts out by describing the situation as one in which there were shaky foundations, with English politics being contradictory and eventually leading to a Jewish priority. This shakiness is attributed to foreign powers and their inconsistent approach rather than Israeli subversiveness. It is an important distinction that helps formulate the authors underlying belief which is that the state was founded for a people with from some veil of ignorance the strongest requirement for a sovereign state at the expense of an existing population. In essence, foreign powers had an obligation to the jewish movement, but acted with disregard for the rights of the local population which were subordinated in a choice that the choosers had no right to make. That was the injustice and its foundations are not necessarily the fault of the parties now involved. The book then follows in chronology discussing the history and in particular the territorial exchanges that accompanied various wars and the politicians and their perspectives and perceived biases. This seems to offend many readers as I'm sure many believe these characters to be quite different from the way described, but the author does not make claims without well documented evidence. The author is very thorough in describing a strategy and subsequently using many examples of its manifestation. It could be argued that it is one sided, but everyone's perspective has a conclusion to draw, and irrespective if that is agreed, the most important thing is the evidence used and this author is thorough in backing up his claims. The momentum of foreign sympathy is focused on and the changing of the global community attitude after the speech delivered in Madrid written by Dr Hanan Ashrawi. The position of the US and its often failure to act as an independent arbitrator depending on the presidency is discussed. The author describes the US position as o

Fantastic work from Avi Shlaim

The major theme of Avi Shlaim's previous book, 'The Iron Wall', was that Israel has throughout its history readily resorted to military force rather than engaging in meaningful diplomacy. In Avi's 'Israel and Palestine' he analyzes four portions of history, including (as he calls them) 1948 and beyond, to Oslo and beyond, the breakdown of the peace process, and perspectives. What I found most appealing about this particular text was Avi's discussion and analysis of literature written by scholars, historical figures, as well as popular figures. This includes, but it not limited to, Nur Masalha, Ilan Pappe, Itamar Rabinovich, Benny Morris, Asher Susser, Ian Black, George and Douglas Ball, Fouad Ajami, Hanan Ashrawi, Meron Benvenisti, Colin Shindler, Moshe Arens, Yitzhak Rabin, Benjamin Netanyahu, Bernard Wasserstein, Dennis Ross, Yossi Beilin, Norman Finkelstein, Bauch Kimmerling, and Edward Said. If some of these names are not familiar to you, I encourage you to look them up. You will uncover that Shlaim is striving to provide detailed scholarly accounts of each individual and their contributions to the interpretation of history with regard to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. And, as always, Shlaim's use of primary sources is extremely well done. Please, anyone who wishes to understand the conflict, read and learn. Most people (including myself) are not capable of reading the primary literature. But at least analyze the work of those that dedicate their entire lives to history and scholarship.