By Benyamin Solomon

This is a review and refutation of "The Everything book to the Middle east," on its claims on the Arab-Israeli conflict.

 This article will refute Jacob M. Fuller's book, "The Everything Middle East Book'' regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict. 

 This book underestimates the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust. This book said:

Nevertheless, the Holocaust stole the lives of more than 5 million Jews and another 5 million non-Jewish civilians. [page 160]

Actually, the Holocaust "stole the lives" of six million Jews to be exact [if you exclude the farhud and other acts of violence by Hitler's allies in the Arab and Muslim world]. It's a well-known fact that the Nazis tried to annihilate the Jewish people. 

Nowhere mentioned in this book is the fact that both radical Islamists such as the Muslim Brotherhood and Arab nationalists collaborated with the Nazis and supported Hitler's holocaust. This book doesn't even mention Amin Al-Husseini who said to "kill the Jews wherever you find them," who helped organize the failed pro-Nazi coup in Iraq, which included the Farhud, which was a pogrom on Iraq Jews, who commanded two Bosnian Muslim SS divisions and who helped bring nazi anti-Semitism into the Muslim world.

The book said:

The next day, Arab armies made their own declaration of resistance, and the first Arab-Israeli war began. [page 161]

If when saying resistance, you mean a war of annihilation, I totally agree. The Arabs sought to annihilate this free democracy. Azzam Pasha, Secretary General of the Arab League, described the Arab invasion as "a war of extermination and a momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades."

The Arab states sought to annihilate the Jews in Israel. It was a Nazified genocidal invasion. It was a genocide on Israeli Jews. 

This book mentions Deir Yassin in the E Fact, but makes no mention of the Heborn massacre, which was organizationed by Hitler's favorite Arab friend Amin al-Husseini, the same guy who then-PA [Palestinian Authority] President Yasser Arafat called a "hero" in 2002. The E fact said:

 On April 9, 1948 (more than a month before the Arab-Israeli war began), future Israeli Prime Ministers Menachem Begin and Yitzaq Shamir led a group of armed Jewish radicals into the Palestinian village of Dayr Yassin. When the dust settled, the bodies of 245 Palestinian men, women and children were found, with many stuffed in walls and tied to automobiles. [page 161]

This book makes no mention of the Jews displaced by the Arab states after the 1948 war, the ones who were resettled in Israel. It accuses Israel of displacing over 1 million Palestinian people. This book said:

After being displaced by the State of Israel, over 1 million people continue to live as refugees in impoverished Arab ghettos. [page 163]

Oh yea, Jacob. And the Arab governments had nothing to do with the refugee issue. Israel decided, hey it's a nice day to displace Palestinians. The truth is different. 

Many Arab refugees fled the fighting. Some left at the request of Arab governments. In fact, in some cases, Israel actually tried to convince the Arab refugees to stay. The ones who fled before the 1948 war did it in their own. In fact, after the Deir Yasisn massacre, Arab reporters exaggerated the bloodshed committed by Jewish forces to get more Arabs against Israel. It got more Arabs to flee out of fear and that helped contribute to the refugee problem. 

I will neither confirm nor deny that Israel ever expelled any of the Palestinian refugees. But the point here is that Israel is not the main one who caused it. Israel certainly didn't expell 1 million Palestinians in the 1948 war. The Arab regimes played a far bigger role in creating the refugee problem than Israel. Let's not forget that the refugee problem is a result of war and aggression started by Arab terrorists and regimes, with the goal to destroy Israel and to kill off its Jewish majority. In fact, the Arab regimes and Palestinian terrorist groups used these Palestinian refugees as pawns in their war of terror on Israel. They want the refugees to stay in the camps as a propaganda war on Israel and as another attempt to be able to delegitimize Israel and destroy Israel. Salma Adbullah said:

  They [the Arab regimes] made all these trillions because of the Palestinian problem. The money that's supposed to go to the poor Palestinians, the refugees out of nowhere were asked to leave their land. You know, and I asked people, I wanted to be fair to everybody involved. I asked refugees who left and I asked people who lived in different countries, "Who asked you to leave your homes?" And they all say the Arab countries. They even offered us transportation. They would give them boats or whatever. They would go into the arab countries and say,"All you have to do is stay here 15 days." You hear the word 15 days repeated all the time. 15 days you're going to stay here. 15 days you're going to stay here. We're going to beat the Zionists and we're going to go back to your own country. 

Why didn't the Arab states and the Palestinian Authority resettle the refugees instead of keeping them in camps? Why couldn't the Palestinian Authority use the money they got from Israel and the west including the US to actually make Palestinian lives prosperous and use it to help the refugees? It's because they wanted to continue the terrorist war on Israel. They want to prop up the right of return among Palestinian refugees so they would demographically destroy Israel by having the right of return and also for a propaganda war on Israel. 

Before, the book states:

The only evidence most could provide was a simple skeleton key. Over the following years, the key became a common symbol for those who had lost everything to the new state. [page 162-163]

A symbol for a false dream that Israel will never allow to happen. The refugee problem can be solved without Israel. Why can't these Arab states, with billions of dollars, resettle the refugees? Many refugees were resettled without a right of return. The key is a symbol to stir up hatred toward Israel and have Palestinians rot in refugee camps until the right of return, which demographically destroys Israel, is implemented.

The book claims:

Throughout the 1950's, many displaced Palestinians decided they would rather die fighting than rot in filthy refugee camps. [page 163]

Yea, die fighting as in killing men, women and children. Not everyone in the Fedayeen [the group fighting Israel after the 1948 war] were Palestinian refugees. This group was dedicated to Israel's destruction and committed terrorist attacks on innocent Israeli civilians.

Imagine if Holocaust survivors carried out a daily campaign of terrorism against German civilians  because they're refugees and what Hitler did to them. People would condemn it. This is what that argument is like.  The book claims:

Despite their killings of Israeli soldiers, the Fedayeen attacks actually emboldened the Jewish newcomers, inspiring them to launch counterattacks into refugee camps, killing their share of Arab fighters and civilians. [page 163]

First off, these Israeli "soldiers" killed by the Fedayeen were not soldiers. They were innocent men, women and children who came to Israel. They were innocent men, women and children. They carried no weapons with them.  The Fedayeen didn't attack Israeli soldiers. They attacked Israeli civilians. Israel found she needed to defend herself and attacked the Fedayeen. See how that works Jacob.

The book said:

In the midst of these changing times,  Palestinians sought to regain their dignity and homeland by attacking Israel. [page 164]

A Palestinian homeland is one of the biggest hoaxes in history. This is a used as an excuse for propaganda reasons, when the reality is that the Palestinian terrorist struggle is trying to destroy Israel and in their genocide on Israeli Jews. The book claims:

During the mid-1960's, intense fighting erupted between Israeli and Syrian forces, bring instability to the Soviet-backed Syrian regime. To deal with this situation, Russians employed another of their patron states Egypt to defend Syria in the event of the Israeli invasion. [page 165]

Well, then maybe that poor Syrian regime [dictatorship] shouldn't have used the Golan Heights to launch all those attacks on innocent civilians in northern Israel. Again, Jacob leaves that out. He seeks to whitewash the genocidal terrorist war on Israel.  Aww, that poor Syrian regime. All they wanted to do was I don't know- destroy Israel and its people!

Jacob claims that Israel went on to attacking Jordan. The book said:

After learning this pact, Israel directed it's reprisals against Jordan. [page 165]

This book will have you believe that Israel just went around attacking Arab countries for the sheer heck of it. Yea, these poor innocent Arab countries. They never did a thing against Israel except for well, trying to destroy Israel and its people and sent terrorists to attack Israeli men, women and children.  Israel was attacking terrorists inside Jordan.

No country will tolerate the terrorism on and the genocidal attempts to annihilate that country. No country will put up with what Israel put up with since its birth. 

The book said:

In the midst of this, the Soviets sent bad intelligence to the Egyptians, warning them of a massive Israeli buildup on the Syrian border. With this information, Egyptian forces moved through the Sinai desert toward the Israeli border, reoccupying border positions held by the United Nations  since 1949. In addition, Syrian, Jordanian, and Iraqi troops moved to Israel's borders to deflect possible strikes. Depending on whom you talk to, Israel's next move was either part of a calculated plan of expansion or a pre-emptive strike of desperation. Either way, on June 5, 1967, the Israeli air force made their first move, destroying most of Egypt's air force before they could leave the ground. [page 165-166]

Actually, first off the Egyptians and other Arab states did not go to Israel's borders to deflect an Israeli attack.  It wasn't any intelligence information told to the Egyptians that made them move close to Israel. They moved near their borders to prepare for a genocidal Nazified invasion of Israel, to destroy Israel and her Jewish majority once and for all. To know this, you just had to listen to what the Arab leaders said then. Listen to the radio and read the newspapers, see the political cartoons bragging about how they were going to destroy Israel and her Jewish majority once and for all. Jacob Fellure doesn't mention this because he whitewashes the Arab Nazi war on Israel. For good information on the Six-day war, go to http://sixdaywar.co.uk/ and http://www.sixdaywar.org/. 

Nowhere did the Arab leaders express concerns that Israel could attack them. 

''We want a full scale, popular war of liberation… to destroy the Zionist enemy," said the Syrian then president Dr. Nureddin al-Attasi to his troops. 

Egyptian-then President Gamal Abdel Nasser said in the speech to the General Council of the International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions:

Taking over Sharm el Sheikh meant confrontation with Israel (and) also meant that we were ready to enter a general war with Israel. The battle will be a general one and our basic objective will be to destroy Israel.

Nasser also said in his press conference:

We will not accept any…coexistence with Israel.…Today the issue is not the establishment of peace between the Arab states and Israel….The war with Israel is in effect since 1948.

Nowhere mentioned is the fact that UN peacekeepers were in Egypt near the border with Israel to keep the peace between the two countries after Israel left Egypt, thanks to pressure from the UN including the Soviet Union and the United States. A few months before the Six-day war, Egypt expelled all peacekeepers and closed Israeli shipping in the Gulf of Aqaba. As I showed from above, Nasser made it clear that closing the Gulf of Aqaba meant war with Israel. He made it clear that he seeks Israel's destruction, Yet people like Jacob M. Fellure can't seem to get it. 

Cairo radio said:

The existence of Israel has continued too long. We welcome the Israeli aggression. We welcome the battle we have long awaited. The peak hour has come. The battle has come in which we shall destroy Israel.

Then-president of Iraq Aref said:

The existence of Israel is an error which must be rectified. This is our opportunity to wipe out the ignominy which has been with us since 1948. Our goal is clear - to wipe Israel off the map.

Nasser also said:

The armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon are poised on the borders of Israel ... to face the challenge, while standing behind us are the armies of Iraq, Algeria, Kuwait, Sudan and the whole Arab nation. This act will astound the world. Today they will know that the Arabs are arranged for battle, the critical hour has arrived. We have reached the stage of serious action and not of more declarations.

Ahmad Shukairy, then chairman of the PLO said:

Those who survive will remain in Palestine. I estimate that none of them will survive.

Yet guess what? Israeli then Prime minister Levi Eshkol said:

Israel wants to make it clear to the government of Egypt that it has no aggressive intentions whatsoever against any Arab state at all.

Israel also thought it could get Jordan out of the war with Israel because Jordan was pretty close to the west compared to Egypt and Syria. Levi Eshkol wrote to Jordan's king Hussein:

We are engaged in defensive fighting on the Egyptian sector, and we shall not engage ourselves in any action against Jordan, unless Jordan attacks us. Should Jordan attack Israel, we shall go against her with all our might.

The UN did not hold border positions near Israel since 1949. It was since 1956 after Israel wiped out the Fedayeen and left because of international pressure. Israel decided to have UN peacekeepers keep the peace there. 

Two years before the 1967 Six day war, Nasser said:

We shall not enter Palestine with its soil covered in sand, we shall enter it with its soil saturated in blood

The book claims:

However, after the '67 war, Palestinian Arabs found their homeland occupied by a non-Arab government whose laws and language were unfamiliar. Because of this, Palestinians look to their unique heritage while resisting the expanding Zionist state. [page 167]

Hey, has it ever occurred to the anti-Israel propagandist that maybe this so-called evil expansionist Zionist state wants to simply live in peace and security and not have the Nazis in the Middle East constantly attack it. By the way, Palestinians found their "unique" heritage as another weapon against Israel. Former PLO terrorist Walid Shoebat said:

Why is it that on June 4th 1967 I was a Jordanian and overnight I became a Palestinian?
We did not particularly mind Jordanian rule. The teaching of the destruction of Israel was a definite part of the curriculum, but we considered ourselves Jordanian until the Jews returned to Jerusalem. Then all of the sudden we were Palestinians - they removed the star from the Jordanian flag and all at once we had a Palestinian flag.
When I finally realized the lies and myths I was taught, it is my duty as a righteous person to speak out.

These Palestinian terrorists fighting Israel want either a united Arab state on all of the Middle East including Israel and the territories or radical Islamists fighting to impose their fascist Nazi form of Islam on the world. Mickey Mouse on al Aqsa TV [Hamas] TV called for "world leadership under Islamic leadership.'' 

Faisial Husseini, Palestinian Authority Minister to Jerusalem Affairs, called himself a Pan-Arab nationalist when he was admitting that the Oslo accords was simply a Trojan horse to eventually eliminate Israel.

I agree with Jacob that the Palestinian identity is unique if "unique" means a complete hoax. 

Zuhair Muhsin, then military commander of the PLO and a member of the PLO executive council said:

There are no differences between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. We are all part of one nation. It is only for political reasons that we carefully underline our Palestinian identity... yes, the existence of a separate Palestinian identity serves only tactical purposes. The founding of a Palestinian state is a new tool in the continuing battle against Israel.

Syrian-then dictator Hafez Assad said to PLO-then leader Yasser Arafat:

You do not represent Palestine as much as we do. Never forget this one point: There is no such thing as a Palestinian people, there is no Palestinian entity, there is only Syria. You are an integral part of the Syrian people, Palestine is an integral part of Syria. Therefore it is we, the Syrian authorities, who are the true representatives of the Palestinian people.

Even on resolution 242 [page 166], though the book does mention that it calls on the Arab states to recognize Israel's right to exist, it failed to mention that it calls on Israel to have secure borders. The book falsely claims that it calls on Israel to leave the territories such as the West Bank and Gaza. It doesn't. It calls for Withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict. Notice it excludes all and the. however, all claims is included for the part that calls for ''termination of all claims  or states of belligerency.''

It calls on the Arab states and Palestinian terrorists to recognize Israel's right to exist and cease terrorism. Israel accepted resolution 242, though the PLO didn't.  Syrian rejected it according to the book. Though some arab states did accept it, they twisted it's meaning to make it seem like they had no obligation to recognize Israel's right to exist or end its genocidal war with Israel and made it seem like it calls on Israel to give up all the territories captured in the Six-day war. US-then ambassador Arther Goldberg acknowledged that the elimination of all and the from the territories was on purpose.

Nowhere mentioned is the fact that Israel sought to give up the territories. Israel offered to give back Gaza, the Sinai and the Golan Heights while to temporarily hold on to the West Bank in exchange for peace, which means ending the war and terrorism on Israel and recognizing Israel's right to exist. 

However, the arab states delcared in Kharoum, "No peace, no negotiations. No recognition.''

Then-Israeli defense minister Moshe Dayan said,"We don't want these lands, we are just waiting for a phone call from King Hussein of Jordan, to give these lands to him in exchange of a peace treaty.''

The book claims:

Nevertheless, this document's [resolution 242] vague declarations did little to bring a lasting peace. Instead, finger-pointing and inaction left Israeli occupation forces in control of Egyptian, Syrian and Palestinian peoples, while Palestinian fighters continued their resistance efforts against Israel. [page 166-167]

Hmm, I wonder why Israel continued its occupation? Oo, pick me! Pick me!. It's, I don't know- because Israel had no peace partner. For Israel offered to trade land for peace. Yet the Arab states never negotiated with Israel because they don't want to recognize Israel's right to exist or end their Nazi war on Israel. Ding, ding ding! That's correct!

Israel leaving the territories reuslts in them being used as terrorist bases for their genocidal Nazi war on Israel until they achieve their aims, which is the destruction of both Israel and her Jewish majority.

These Palestinian fighters are continuing what Al-Husseini sought to do in the holy land, which is to eliminate Israel [before Israel was created, he sought to prevent the creation of a Jewish state] and kill Israel's Jewish majority.

On Israel's settlements, it claims that Israeli settlements are illegal. 

The book said:

Since their initial occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967, some Isrraeli extremists began constructiong heavily fortified Jewish settlements in occupied Arab areas [page 168].

I, and everyone agrees that there are some extremists and rejectionists in Israeli settlements, who want to take over the territories, annex them as part of Israel and  expell its Arab population.  Israeli settlers come for different reasons and are not a monolith. Some don't mind a two-state solution if it brings real peace. David Meir Levi wrote in the pamphlet "Big Lies Demolishing the myths of the Propaganda war on Israel" that [I cut and pasted these quotes form http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1501222/posts]:

There are five types of settlements: A. Agrarian settlements for military purposes manned mostly by soldiers; B. Settlements of Jews returning to sites occupied by Jews prior to 1948 (Hebron, Gush Etzion, Jewish Quarter of East Jerusalem); C. Expanding suburbs of Israeli cities on or near the “Green Line;” D. Settlements unrelated to the previous three types; E. Illegal rogue settlements

 

A. Settlements for Military Purposes

Agrarian settlements manned by IDF soldiers were established soon after the war along what the IDF felt were crucial corridors of defense, especially along the Jordan river, near the “Green Line,” in the Golan Heights, and near Gaza. Because Egypt, Syria and Jordan remained belligerent states for decades after the war, and because the PLO was actively trying to develop bases for terrorism in the newly conquered territories, and because Israel had previously been invaded across these territories, these settlements were intended primarily to serve a strategic military defensive purpose.

The Alon plan, developed by General Yigal Alon shortly after the war, envisioned a series of these military-agrarian settlements (referred to as “nahal” in Hebrew) protecting strategic areas along the Jordan river (it is important to recall that the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan was in a de iure state of war with Israel until 1994) and across parts of the West Bank where surveillance and the potential for rapid military deployment were deemed essential for security purposes.

In several cases, where Palestinian farmers utilized the Israeli court system to lodge complaints that the army was unnecessarily taking land without proper military purpose, the Israeli High Court of Justice decided in favor of the plaintiffs. The army site at Beth El (near Ramallah) is the best-known case, and probably one of the few cases in all of world history where the legal system of the victorious country decided in favor of the defeated, contrary to the security

related demands of the army. The IDF was forced to move its base about ten kilometers further west, to accommodate the land claims of the local Palestinians.

 

B. Settlements of Jews Returning To Their Pre-1948 Homes

Settlement of civilian Israelis in the West Bank began shortly after the 1967 war, with a small group of Orthodox Jews setting up a few households in the former Jewish section of Hebron, followed by a larger re-settling of Jews in the rapidly reconstructed Jewish Quarter of East Jerusalem. Jews had lived in Hebron almost continuously since the days of Joshua, 3100 years ago, and were expelled only during the horrific Arab pogroms of 1929 in which hundreds were slaughtered. Jewish habitation in Jerusalem had a similar millennia-long history, with the 1948 war and the massacre of about half of the population of the Jewish Quarter terminating Jewish presence there.

Later, Jews resettled the villages of the Kfar Etzion area (aka Gush Etzion) southwest of Bethlehem. Since this area had been extensively settled and developed in the early part of the 20th century by Zionist pioneers, and mobs of Arab irregulars had massacred most of the Jews of these villages during the 1948 war, the return of Israelis to these sites created additional Type B settlements.

 

C: Settlements Expanding Suburbs of Israeli Cities On Or Near The “Green Line”

Unoccupied areas around Jerusalem and to the east of Kfar Saba and Netania (near Tel Aviv) and to the northeast of Petah Tiqvah were used as sites for major building projects that created low cost housing for the expanding populations of the Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv areas. In most cases, the land utilized for these projects was Jordanian ‘Crown Land’, land to which no individual could lay claim of private owner ship. In the absence of Jordan’s willingness to enter into peace nego tiations after the war, Israel’s expropriation of these unoccupied areas was legal in as much as Israel’s sovereignty, having been created via defensive actions against an aggressor nation (Jordan), was legal.

In cases where West Bank Arabs legally owned land that Israel wanted for these expansion projects, Israel bought the land at fair market prices. Land sale to Israel was fairly active throughout the decades after the Six-day war. So much so that when the Palestinian Authority was established in 1994, Arafat declared that sale of land to Jews was a capital offense; and as a result, Palestinian families who had benefited from these sales were suddenly in mortal danger and some were forced to flee the West Bank.

The rapid growth in Jerusalem’s Jewish population after the war presented the Israeli government with both a problem and a solution of considerable political valence. Areas of dense Jewish settlement were developed in order to accommodate this growth, and these settlements were used to surround Jerusalem, such that the 1948-1967 phenom enon of a “Jerusalem Corridor” (where Jerusalem was surrounded on three-and-a-half sides by hostile Arab towns and villages with access to other Israeli areas restricted to only one narrow road) would not be re-created in the context of a future peace agreement with the Arabs. The outlying areas (French Hill, Ammunition Hill, Gilo, Ma’aleh Adumim, Har Homah, inter alia) were turned into hi-rise suburbs that expanded the city’s perimeter and accommodated the burgeoning population. Of these, only Gilo was built on privately owned land. A Christian family in Beit Jalla sold the hilltop site to the municipality of Jerusalem in 1974.

 

D: Settlements Unrelated to the Previous Three Types

Over time, religious and right wing political pressure supported the creation of settlements elsewhere in the West Bank and Gaza. Under Prime Ministers Begin and Rabin, these settlements prolifer ated. Often they were founded near ancient Jewish holy sites, such as Joseph’s Tomb near Nablus (Biblical Shechem).

Arab spokespersons claim that these settlements, some of which were built well inside the West Bank or Gaza areas, stole land from Arab farmers. Israel claims that most land used for these developments was unoccupied and un-owned, thus qualifying as ‘Crown Land’ on which Israel had full legal right to build and develop. Where privately owned land was needed for settlement expansion, Israel claims to have purchased that land from its legal owners at fair market values.

There was considerable debate in the Israeli government and society at large as to whether allowing these Type D settlements to

be developed was productive in the context of Israel’s long-term goal of achieving peace. Ultimately, the government felt that creating “uvdot bashetah” (facts in the field - settlements that were there, liter ally in concrete, with buildings, populations, agrarian and industrial activities, connected by efficient infra-structure to the pre-1967 Israeli areas) would be useful as bagaining chips in future negotiations.

 

E: Illegal Rogue Settlements

Illegal Rogue Settlements were set up by break-away settlers, often contrary to IDF and/or government instructions, sometimes on privately owned Palestinian land. Palestinian complaints about such illegal land grabs have been adjudicated in the Israeli court system with decisions not infrequently in favor of the Palestinians. These settlements, whether on illegally taken land or not, are considered illegal by many in Israel. Some have been forcibly dismantled. This is a very emotional issue in Israel, with mostly orthodox Jews demanding that all Jews be allowed to settle anywhere in the Promised Land (especially anywhere in the region where Abraham lived: i.e., the West Bank from Shechem/Nablus to Hebron). Anti-settlement sentiment among Israelis (especially the non-religious) is spurred in large part by these rogue sites; and it is almost exclusively this type of settlement on the West Bank that Prime Minister Sharon has considered dismantling even before peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority.

This book also said:

As these areas were outside of Israel's internationally recognized borders (Green-line Israel), it was illeagal to build Israeli settlements on them.

While some Israeli settlements are on illegal areas, Israeli settlements themselves aren't illegal. David Meir Levi said:

Anti-settlement spokespersons (Arab, Israeli and other) have repeatedly branded the settlements as illegal in accordance with the 4th Geneva Convention and international law. However, even a superficial review of the relevant elements of international law dem onstrates that this interpretation of the Geneva Convention is a typical example of Orwellian “doublespeak”. It is precisely international law, the Geneva Convention, and relevant UN resolutions that define these settlements as legal.
According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the prohibition of exiling conquered populations and settling populations from the conqueror’s territory into conquered territories pertains to territory conquered in an offensive war. These sections of the Convention were written to deter future actions like those of the Nazis in Eastern Europe during WWII. Since Israel acquired sovereignty over the territories in a defensive war, it is highly questionable whether these prohibitions apply. The fact that the belligerent opponent (Jordan) remained at war (until 1994) meant that the conquered population was potentially hostile. Moreover, Israel never exiled any Arabs from anywhere in the territories (except in 1992 when it deported about 400 terrorists to south Lebanon in an attempt to stop terror activities).
On the contrary, because of Israel’s policies of ‘open bridges’ across the Jordan (although Jordan was still in a state of declared war with Israel), Arabs migrated into Israel in vast numbers, and the Arab population of the West Bank tripled, from about 650,000 in 1967 to more than 2,000,000 in 1994, with a commensurate increase in Arab settlements (some estimates suggest that as many as 260 new Arab villages or expansions of existing sites occurred during this time).
It is obvious therefore, that Israeli settlement activity not only did nothing to infringe on the well being of the indigenous population; rather, that activity actually created the beneficial economic environ ment into which hundreds of thousands of Arabs could integrate.

This book claims that the Camp David accords between Israel and Egypt made no mention of the Palestinians. The book claims:

Although this peace agreement is a monumental achievement, it failed to deal to deal with the Palestinian territories, causing many Arabs to see Sadat as a sellout. [page 169]

WRONG! It called for autonomy for the Palestinians. Israel had no peace partner and had to deal with PLO terrorism. The PLO was still publicly dedicated to Israel's destruction and didn't pretend to recognize Israel's right to exist or pretend to denounce terrorism until 1988. Israel had no Palestinian peace partner. Many Arabs including the Arab states and Palestinian terrorist groups such as the PLO saw Sadat as a "sellout" because he recognized Israel's right to exist and agreed to give up the terrorist war on Israel. Israel gave up the Sinai to Egypt. 

When it gets to the first intifada, it is totally misleading the readers in a pro-intifada direction. It fails to mention that the first intifada wasn't just stoning Israeli soldiers, it also was attacks on Israeli civilians and Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel, which was basically many Palestinians wanting peaceful coexistence with Israel and opposing the terrorism.

The book said:

Like a master on the plantation , the Israeli government determained the fate of the Palestinians until one day the slaves revolted.

The book then goes on to describe the first intifada. It gives pro-intifada propaganda and then describes some of Israel's measures, which I will neither confirm or deny. Israel's respnse was harsh.

What's not mentioned is that the intifada was bloody not only to IDF soldiers. In fact, it was started after an Israeli shopper was stabbed to death when shopping. An Israeli truck accidently hit a Palestinian car. It was lies on Israel that really brought on the intifada.

It was a violent uprising started by the PLO and then taken over by Hamas. Mitchell G. Bard, in Jewish Virtual Library said:

False charges of Israeli atrocities and instigation from the mosques played an important role in starting the intifada. On December 6, 1987, an Israeli was stabbed to death while shopping in Gaza. One day later, four residents of the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza were killed in a traffic accident. Rumors that the four had been killed by Israelis as a deliberate act of revenge began to spread among the Palestinians. Mass rioting broke out in Jabalya on the morning of December 9, in which a 17-year-old youth was killed by an Israeli soldier after throwing a Molotov cocktail at an army patrol. This soon sparked a wave of unrest that engulfed the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem.

This book fails to mention that it was started based on lies. This book presents the Palestinians as slaves, simply because Israel refuses to have their country terrorized by Nazi-like terrorists. In fact, Israel left the territories alone and later [after Oslo]  imposed the restrictions to gain security. Guess what, it works. It claims that the territories were "cut off economically from the rest of the world" and that "Palestinians were forced to become day laborers in Israel."

Guess what, it was in Israel where most Palestinians were being employed. Yes, I agree the territories are impoverished now. This book was talking about before Oslo when Israel controlled the territories, during the time of the first intifada. Also, if the intifada won, it would turn the territories into a terrorist base and give them a base to fight Israel.

Martin Gilbert's book "The Routledge Atlas of the Arab-Israeli Conflict" [this is taken from the eighth edition published in 2005] actually shows on page 129 that life under Israeli rule improved. That book stated:

Despite their desire for independence and their dislike of the Israeli occupation, the Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza benefited from the Social and economic policies of Israel.

Yea, Jacob, what slaves? That book has a chart of some on the right of the passage, with "before 1967" and "after 1989," showing that malaria was eliminated and that the number of school teachers increased. That chart shows that more villages were connected to water.

As pointed out in that book and shown in the chart, building a university in the West Bank was banned under Jordanian rule. Yet when Israel took over, not only was the ban lifted. But six universities were established.

Ephraim Karsh wrote:

Israel's restraint in this sphere -- which turned out to be desperately misguided -- is only part of the story. The larger part, still untold in all its detail, is of the astounding social and economic progress made by the Palestinian Arabs under Israeli "oppression." At the inception of the occupation, conditions in the territories were quite dire. Life expectancy was low; malnutrition, infectious diseases, and child mortality were rife; and the level of education was very poor. Prior to the 1967 war, fewer than 60 percent of all male adults had been employed, with unemployment among refugees running as high as 83 percent. Within a brief period after the war, Israeli occupation had led to dramatic improvements in general well-being, placing the population of the territories ahead of most of their Arab neighbors.
In the economic sphere, most of this progress was the result of access to the far larger and more advanced Israeli economy: the number of Palestinians working in Israel rose from zero in 1967 to 66,000 in 1975 and 109,000 by 1986, accounting for 35 percent of the employed population of the West Bank and 45 percent in Gaza. Close to 2,000 industrial plants, employing almost half of the work force, were established in the territories under Israeli rule.

During the 1970's, the West Bank and Gaza constituted the fourth fastest-growing economy in the world -- ahead of such "wonders" as Singapore, Hong Kong, and Korea, and substantially ahead of Israel itself. Although GNP per capita grew somewhat more slowly, the rate was still high by international standards, with per-capita GNP expanding tenfold between 1968 and 1991 from $165 to $1,715 (compared with Jordan's $1,050, Egypt's $600, Turkey's $1,630, and Tunisia's $1,440). [from Ephraim Karsh's article "What Occupation" in the Commentary and pasted by Aish.com, in the book "Israel:Life in the shadow of terror", it is titled "History of the territories"]

That article also said:

In the wake of the war, the only objective adopted by then-Minister of Defense Moshe Dayan was to preserve normalcy in the territories through a mixture of economic inducements and a minimum of Israeli intervention. The idea was that the local populace would be given the freedom to administer itself as it wished, and would be able to maintain regular contact with the Arab world via the Jordan River bridges.

The book said:

If only they could be free from Israel's clutches, they too might enjoy their lands and their prosperity. [page 171]

Yet, as you'll see the book fails to mention Arafat's corruption [it was published in 2004 and maybe before Arafat's death] and the increase of terrorism, which got the territories in poverty. The economy got worse after they were "free from Israel's clutches." Even many Palestinians themselves see Arafat and Fatah as corrupt.

The book said:

The passion of the intifada fighters awakened many Israelis to the injustices caused by their government. In addition, forty years of life under Israeli rule brought many Palestinians to realize the Jewish State was not going to go away. With each side wanting a normal life, compromises were made in which Israeli "doves,'' or peacemakers pushed for a withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza, while Palestinian doves called for the recognition of Israel according to its pre-1967 borders. [page 171]

Notice that when Jacob talks about the Israeli doves, the doves is in quotation marks, but when talking about Palestinian doves, the doves is not in quotation marks. This is another example of the author's pro-Palestinian anti-Israel bias. The intifada was used by the media as anti-Israel propaganda. Israel was willing to trade land for peace, since day one. 

This book talks about the failed talks at Madrid and then the Oslo accords. The book said:

According to the principles of the Oslo accords, Israel and the PLO were to mutually recognize one another. Israel was to withdraw from the occupied territories, and the PLO was to take specific steps toward ensuring Israel's security. In the face of this monumental victory for moderates on both sides, Israeli and Palestinian hawks violently opposed the arrangement. For Israel's minority of extremists, any loss of territory was unacceptable. At the same time, same fanatical Palestinian groups viewed the recognition of Israel as cowardly submission to Zionism. [page 173]

Yes that is true. Yes, a minority of Israelis, all of whom extremists, did want to take over the territories. The Palestinians who reject Israel's right to exist, though they don't represent the whole Palestinian population, represent the leadership and the terrorist groups. 

This book makes the Hamas suicide bombings seem like they're a response to Baruch Goldstien's attacks on Palestinians who prayed in the mosque of Abraham in Hebron. The book states:

In the city of Hebron, on Feburary 25, 1994, an Israeli settler responded to Rabin's concessions by killing twenty-nine Palestinians as they prayed at the mosque of Abraham inside the tomb of the Patriarchs complex. The Islamic group Hamas answered the Hebron massacre with severla bombings, yet both Arafat and Raibn continued their march toward peace. [page 173]

Hamas would've committed their suicide bombings even if the Hebron massacre didn't happen. The first Hamas suicide bombing happened in 1993, before Oslo. This book doesn't even say that Hamas committed the suicide bombings to derail the "wonderful" Oslo "peace" process, but as a response to Goldsteins massacre at the Heborn mosque. Jacob, get this in your head. The suicide bombings were there to eliminate Israel. They were there to make life in Israel a living nightmare.  Arafat didn't continue his "march toward peace.'' When talking to his people, he called for violent jihad toward Israel. In 1996, Arafat said:

We plan to eliminate the State of Israel and establish a purely Palestinian State. We will make life unbearable for Jews by psychological warfare and population explosion; Jews won't want to live among us Arabs.

Arafat compared the Oslo accords to the Huddibayya accords between the Quraysh [Meccan] tribe and Muhammad, the founder of Islam. When strong enough, Muhammad and his Muslim forces conqured Mecca and defeated the Quraysh. Arafat collaborated with terorrist groups including Hamas.

 The book also said:

After Rabin's assassination, two large Palestinian suicide bombings rocket the nation, creating a drastic shift in Israeli public opinion. From the euphoria of Rabin's peace victories, the region spiraled into a pit of desperation and fear. More concerned with security than peace, the Israeli people elected the hawkish Benjamin Netanyahu as their leader. Reluctantly, the new prime minister continued with the principles of the Oslo accords, allowing increased Palestinian autonomy in the West Bank and Gaza. At the same time, Netanyahu showed his true colors by lifting the four year ban on settlement construction and refusing to meet with Yasser Arafat for scheduled talks. [page 174].

Yes, Netanyahu did continue the peace process. What "scheduled talks" did Netanyahu miss? It was already after 1995 when 42% of the west Bank and 90% of Gaza, were under Palestinian Authority rule, meaning that 98% of the Palestinian people were under Arafat's rule and were no longer living under Israeli "occupation." Whether Netanyahu continued with the settlements or not, they're not illegal. Oslo said nothing about the Israeli settlements.

On the Camp David summit, the book claims:

Despite periods of disagreements and several stalemates, Barak agreed to make concessions, which allowed final status negotiations to move forward. In July 2000, Israeli and Palestinian leaders met at Camp David, hoping to producea historic agreement, just as Israeli and Egyptian leaders did in 1979. As it turned out, the summit was fruitless. as neither side would compromise on having Jerusalem as its capital. 

Ahh, wrong! What happened was that Barak offered to give up 97% of the West Bank, give up three percent of Israel proper to compensate for the 3% of the West Bank Israel would retain,  give up all of Gaza and the non-Jewish quarters of East Jerusalem. Israel offered to hand over the Muslim holy sites on the temple mount to Arafat. Arafat was asked to recognize the sacred holy sites to Jews. But he denies that there ever was a Jewish temple. 

It was the most generous offer in Israeli history, the first time an Israeli Prime Minister ever offered to give up most of its historic capital that it won from a defensive war to a side that even violates its Oslo commitments and destroyed two Jewish holy sites, Joseph's tomb and the peace for Israel synagogue.

In 2001, even after Arafat's organized terrorist uprising known as the second intifada was in motion and with Israelis having to worry about being blown up by a suicide bomber at any minute, Barak offered to make the same generous offer, with Arafat rejecting it and continuing the terrorist uprising. 

The book claims:

By September 2000, after months of gridlock, Barak was showing signs of conciliation regarding the fate of Jerusalem. With tensions running high among frightened Israelis and frustrated Palestinians, this type of meaningful concessions could have ensured a lasting peace. Instead Barak's goodwill was undermined by the right-wing hawk, Ariel Sharon. [page 175]

Dang those Israeli right-wing hawks, supposedly ruining these "wonderful" "peace" processes when it is clearly the fault of the nazi Palestinian Authority. Anyway, it was doomed to failiure because Arafat was a crooked Nazi and one of the biggest terrorist scums the world can ask for. He always sought to eliminate Israel. Terrorism is his whole career. It was clearly not going to be peace when Arafat's organized terrorist uprising was in motion. 

The book claims:

In an attempt to show Palestinians who's boss, Sharon and a small group of his cronies paraded across the temple mount, known to Muslims as Harim Al-Sharif, ("Noble Sanctuary"). Not only was Sharon's act against his own Jewish religious regulation, it was also a slap in the face to the Palestinian people, and for that matter the entire Muslim world. As a result of Sharon's calculated actions, Palestinians erupted in protest and the second intifada was born. 

First off, the PA communications Minister Imad Faluji admitted that the second intifada was planned  by Arafat since Arafat returned from the 2000 Camp David summit, where a spointe dout before, Israel made its most generous offer ever. Imad Faluji said:

 Whoever thinks that the Intifada broke out because of the despised Sharon's visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, is wrong, even if this visit was the straw that broke the back of the Palestinian people. This Intifada was planned in advance, ever since President Arafat's return from the Camp David negotiations, where he turned the table upside down on President Clinton. [Arafat] remained steadfast and challenged [Clinton]. He rejected the American terms and he did it in the heart of the US.

So it was really an organized terrorist uprising started by Arafat. Sharon didn't go into the temple mount to provoke the Palestinians or derail the "peace" process. When going in, he said that he wanted peace. Also, after Sharon was elected. Mitchell G. Bard states:

Sharon's views have also evolved over time. While he was once fiercely opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state, as Prime Minister he has endorsed the idea, in opposition to members of his own party. Since taking office, Sharon has repeatedly offered to negotiate with the Palestinians on condition only that they end the violence. He asked for only seven days of peace — a demand some found onerous despite the fact that the Palestinians had promised at Oslo eight years of peace — and later even dropped that demand. When he did, the Palestinians answered his gesture with the Passover massacre, the suicide bombing of a religious observance in a Netanya hotel in which 29 people were killed.

Sharon visited because he believed that Jews should be allowed in the temple mount. Whether it was against "Jewish regulation" is simply an opinion. 

The book claims that Palestinians used "minimal force in the force in the first intifada" and that they they were "throwing rocks instead of firing arms" [page 175]. In the first intifada, the Palestinians used more than rocks in the first intifada, like molotov cocktails and other lethal weapons, against suspected Palestinian collaborators, Jews in the territories and east Jerusalem and on iDF soldiers who were defending their country. In the second intfiad,a it was a terrorist uprising. Here again, the author mixes Israel's response for security with the terrorist uprising, making the cause seem like the result and vice versa and even exaggerated what Israel did. The book claimed that:

Although infuriated Palestinians had utilized the strategy of minimal force in the first intifada [by throwing rocks instead of firing guns], the second uprising was characterized by Palestinians who were so beyond exasperation that they were ready to kill themselves.  After more than thirty years of daily road closures, never-ending curfews, and time-consuming checkpoints, Palestinians longed for an unimpeded life. Decades of home demolitions, early morning arrests, torture sessions, random interrogations and "accidental deaths" had left people more than angry. Poverty, humiliation and pain, plus years of shattered dreams, produced mind-numbing hopelessness and unimaginable rage.  For many, suicide was seen as freedom, and the death of even one Israeli was viewed as a victory. [page 175-176]

I already refuted the part of the first intifada from that brief quotation in the book. But still, the curfews, checkpoints are there for security. checkpoints are there to stop terrorists from going into Israel. In some cases, it works. Curfews happen rarely, during times when Israelis are searching for terrorist activity. Anyway, the road blocks are there to protect Jews in the territories from being attacked [of course not all Palestinians would attack them but too many would and enough to endanger Jews in the territories].

House demolitions is another anti-terorrist tactic by demolitioning homes and smuggling that hold weapons for terrorists and occasionally, they would also demolish the homes of terrorists. The IDF code of conduct and purity of arms forbids torture. The IDF code of conduct said that "Soldiers must accord dignity and respect to the Palestinian population and those arrested."

Also, the purity of arms said:

The soldier shall make use of his weaponry and power only for the fulfillment of the mission and solely to the extent required; he will maintain his humanity even in combat. The soldier shall not employ his weaponry and power in order to harm non-combatants or prisoners of war, and shall do all he can to avoid harming their lives, body, honor and property.

IDF soldiers who do torture Palestinians are arrested. The letter by Mr.Yechezkel Lein  from the Israeli ministry of justice says:

29.Military Courts also pertain an uncompromising position in regard to violence 
offences committed by soldiers towards Palestinian detainees, as can be inferred 
from the following examples: 
29.1. Cen/274/06 – A soldier was convicted of an offence of abuse for beating a 
handcuffed Palestinian detainee. Further to his demotion back to private, the 
soldier was sentenced to seven months of imprisonment, out of which four 
months were to be served in prison and the rest by a suspended 
imprisonment for two years, provided he would not commit any further 
offence involving threat or violence. The military court stated in its decision 
that: 
"It is unnecessary to heap words as to the gravity of the act in 
which the defendant was convicted. The Military Court of Appeals 
expressed its opinion in the recent years about acts of this kind, the 
severe and serious fault attached to them and the severe harm to the 
IDF's reputation and the purity of its lines. Indeed, the defendant 
deserves an aggravated penalty for his acts which hold an element
The Department for International Agreements and International Litigation 
of harm to a helpless person, even if the person was regarded 
according to the defendant's point of view, as a terrorist and one 
who carried out shooting attacks against our forces. When the 
terrorist was arrested, handcuffed and could not react 
anymore, there is a grave prohibition to harming him in any 
manner and the fact that no injury or damage was caused to 
him can not reduce significantly the moral fault of the act". 
(highlight not in the origin). 
29.2. Cen/472/05 – A soldier was convicted of an offence of abuse and a related 
offence of improper behavior for beating a handcuffed Palestinian detainee. 
The indictment was submitted against the soldier who already served a 
sentence of 28 days of imprisonment and had been suspended from serving 
as a combat soldier, following his conviction in a disciplinary court. As the 
military court was not satisfied with this punishment, it convicted the 
defendant as previously mentioned and sentenced him for an additional 
sentence of 45 days of imprisonment and 5 months of suspended 
imprisonment for two years if committing an offence concerning abuse, 
assault or act of violence against other person, thus in total, the soldier was 
sentenced to two and a half months of imprisonment. As well as demoted to 
private. One of the judges pointed out in his judgment that "the behavior of 
the defendant imposes disgrace on him, tarnishes his unit, damages the 
combat ethics of the IDF and reflects upon the image of the IDF on the 
whole and the image of its soldiers". 
29.3. Cen/471/05 – A soldier was convicted of an offence of abuse and an offence 
of dishonorable behavior due to the beating of Palestinian detainees who 
were under his custody. The soldier was sentenced to a punishment of four 
months of imprisonment, three of which in prison and the rest by suspended 
imprisonment if committing an offence of abuse or violence against another 
person in a period of three years. In addition, the soldier was demoted back 
to private. 

Ye Israel does interrogate suspected terorrists about terrorism. 

The book admits that Sharon showed "uncharacteristic moderation by acknowledging the West Bank and Gaza as occupied territories" and that he spoke "of a future Palestinian state." That's correct. Yet the book says:

For Palestinians living under the thumb of Israel, words are cheap, and only tangible freedom will give them relief. At the same time, fearful Israeli citizens desire a secure nation without the threat of terrorism, and only the cessation of Palestinian attacks will suffice. [page 177]

The book admits that "most Israelis and Palestinians have grown extremely cynical" [page 177]. This book is giving moral equivolence between both sides. If the Palestinians have a leaderhsip that fights the terorrists on their side and recognizies Israel's right to exist, then the Palestinians will have their state. But that's not the case. The conflict is about Israel's survial as a secure Jewish state. Yes, most Palestinians may not want to live under Israeli rule. It doesn't mention that the Palestinian Authority is worse. Daniel Pipes said:

 For all their rhetoric about Israel's "vicious" and "brutal" occupation, Palestinian Arabs - including their leaders - sometimes let down their guard and acknowledge how they prefer Israel to the Palestinian Authority.

Pipes gives some cases. On the E-fact section on page 174 in "Isn't the Israeli-Palestinian conflict about religion", it acknowledges that most Israelis want security, but states that "the vast majority of Muslim and Christian Palestinians  desire basic freedoms and human rights, unavailable to them under Israeli occupation." The E-fact also says that the conflict is about "a struggle for Israeli security and Palestinian liberation," ignoring the fact that the conflict was there decades before Israel won the West Bank and Gaza, that the Palestinians didn't seek to have a Palestinian state on those territories when it was under Jordan and Egypt and that these genocidal terrorists are using a Palestinian state as an excuse to make their Nazi-like struggle seem legitimate. It even ignores the fact that Israel is willing to have a Palestinian state in exchange for peace and security. In page 287 of this book, it again tries to draw the moral equivalence. It states that Israeli Jews discriminate against Palestinian Christians and Muslims because of religious beliefs, while most Israelis consider the occupation as an issue of security while some Palestinian Muslims consider it a religious battle, most want to end "the Israeli government's humiliating grip on their lives." 

This book fails to mention that Palestinian Christians are worse off under the PA and Islamists than they are under Israel. Many Palestinian Christians are forced to hide their identity just to talk about the persecution under the PA and Islamists without risking their lives. A Bethlehem community Christian leader said this, while hiding his identity in order to keep his safety:

All this talk about Israel driving Christians out and causing pain is nonsense. You want to know what is at play here, just come throughout the year and see the intimidation from the Muslims. They have burned down our stores, built mosques in front of our churches, stole our real estate and took away our rights. Women have been raped and abducted. So don't tell me about Israel. It's the Muslims.

There is plenty of documentation of persecution of Palestinian Christians in the Palestinian areas. Justus Weiner, a human rights attorney, has done extensive research on the plight of Palestinian Christians and found actual documentation of persecution of them by Islamists. Ahmad el-Akwal, for example, converted from Islam to Christianity. He was repeatedly arrested and tortured by the PA and then killed by Islamists including those from Hamas. He even wrote a whole mongraph, here.

The book also said:

Though Washington supported Iraq during its long war with Iran, Saddam's stockpile of weaponry, as well as his extreme anti-Israel statements, prompted the United States to rethink its alliance with Baghdad.

Yes, it's true that America supported Saddam's Iraq because it considered it the lesser of two evils to the Iranian regime, which seeks to spread their backwards form of Islam all over the world, exports international terrorism [Saddam also supported terrorists, but let that pass], and took American workers as hostages. plus now, Iran is developing nuclear weapons to use them on America and Israel as well as when it's useful in exporting Islamism. MAD [Mutually Assured Destruction] does not deter the Iranian regime from using nuclear weapons. Anyway, the US supported Saddam's Iraq and did not stop because of his "stockpile of weaponry" and not because of his "extreme anti-Israel statements." What made the US stop supporting Iraq [only one percent of his material support such as weapons came from America] was Saddam's terrorist invasion of Kuwait.

Anyway, I exposed the distortions of this book. It seems like an interesting book to anybody who wants to know the background of the Middle East. That's why this refutation is needed. This book spews anti-Israel propaganda and makes the Nazified terrorist struggle against Israel seem legitimate. It whitewashes the Arab war against Israel. Sometimes, this book draws a moral equivalence, trying to make both Israel and the palestinian terrorist struggle have legitimate aims, despite the fact that no ones [not even the arab inhabitants or the Palestiniant erorrists] called on Egypt and Jordan to give up the Wes tBank and Gaza for an Arab Palestinian state. Israel is the only one willing to do it, just in exchange for peace and security. As article 24 of the PLO charter said:

 This Organization does not exercise any territorial sovereignty over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, on the Gaza Strip or in the Himmah Area. Its activities will be on the national popular level in the liberational, organizational, political and financial fields.

As shown, a Palestinian state is simply useful in orchestrating a successful propaganda war against Israel. as shown above, this book blames Israel entirely for the refugee problem and leaves out not only the Arab role in causing it but also the fact that they're being used by Israel's Nazi enemies, both for propaganda means and to use the right of return to demographically destroy Israel. The Arab nazi war machine benefits from Palestinian refugees rotting in refugee camps, to throw more dirt at Israel.

This book fails to show these facts. Everyone who buys this book should be skeptical when reading about the Arab-Israeli conflict in this book. For those who buy this book for a basic understanding of the Middle East, this is a good article to read in order to see that this book's analysis of the Arab-Israeli conflict is flawed. After all, the world should know that an attack on Israel is an attack on me.