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Title: War Without End: Israelis, Palestinians, and the Struggle for a Promised Land by Anton LaGuardia ISBN: 0-312-31633-X Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books Pub. Date: 23 May, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.86 (14 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Opinionated yet valuable history of 20th-century Palestine
Comment: A combination of history and journalism, La Guardia's useful and readable book covers the formation of Israel, its recently immigrated Jewish populations, and the exiled or (to risk a loaded word) subjugated, mostly Islamic, Arab natives. While the book sketches the historical events of the last two millennia that led the world to the current impasse and describes the rise of Zionism and its role in the creation of the state, the bulk of its pages focuses on events since 1948.
Discussion about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has become so heated that it is surely impossible to write a book that would satisfy even a plurality of readers, much less most of them. La Guardia is not impartial: on the whole, his sympathies tend to lie with the plight of the Palestinians (and part of this bias may well be unavoidable, considering the disadvantaged David vs. well-armed Goliath nature of the conflict). Yet he also understands the motives, emotions, and events that supported both Zionism and the formation of a Jewish state early in the first half of the twentieth century.
His blunt criticisms are equally harsh, directed at the international blindness that seemingly pretended that Palestine was an empty territory before and especially after World War 2, the incendiary Israeli policy of permitting settlements amidst Palestinian territory, the anti-Semitism tainting the Palestinian cause, the intractable religious fanaticism that infects both sides. Furthermore, he is scathing in his criticism of both Israeli and Palestinian leaders. For example, he excoriates Arafat's cynical manipulations, his administration of "a fiefdom in his own image," and his "laissez-faire attitude" to Palestinian violence. Similarly, he disparages Sharon for his role in the Phalangist massacre of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Although extremists of either stripe will undoubtedly disagree, La Guardia's biases inform rather than contaminate his reporting.
The journalistic aspects of the book yield its one major shortcoming. Instead of presenting the history of Palestine/Israel in some linear fashion, his chapters divide his materials, very loosely, into a potpourri of overlapping topics: religious background, the early immigrations and kibbutzim, a history of twentieth century events, the shadow of the Holocaust and the creation of the Palestinian diaspora (provocatively titled "Victims of Victims"), the assorted native and immigrant Jewish communities, and recent political events. La Guardia mixes interviews, historical narration, and flashbacks; since he occasionally refers to people and events before he's introduced them, the result may well be confusing to those who don't already have a general historical background.
Written by a foreign observer with an impressive understanding of the Middle East, "War without End" is, for the most part, factually reliable--and the opinionated presentation of those facts will enlighten rather than prejudice. The reader closes the book, however, with a sinking pessimism reinforced by the book's title: that this morass really has no solution that we can expect to see in our lifetimes.
Rating: 5
Summary: Fascinating, heartwrenching account of Israel's conflict
Comment: I can only say that this book was one of the best books I have ever read on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Deliciously detailed and compassionately written, this book achieves its purpose: Explain the middle east crisis to those of us who don't understand it. This book enlightened me and showed me many of the 'whys'. Of course, Israel's conflict is a spiritual as well as political battle, and secular news reporters will never understand nor acknowledge this aspect of the crisis. We are not given much food for thought in the religious arena but we are given much in the geo-political/social arena. An excellent book to be sure for anyone interested in the land of milk and honey.
Rating: 4
Summary: War Without End revisited
Comment: As I was reading through this book it stroke me that it is funny how much authors spend time convincing us, the readers, that they are reporting nothing less than the truth. La Guardia is aware that he has taken upon himself to write about a conflict, which appears to have been covered in every aspect possible; he is aware that it is not possible to write a comprehensive piece about one of the most dynamic conflicts in history. he explicitly shares his doubts with the reader of investing energy in writing a text that may seem superfluous the next day because the course of events have taken another surprising turn. The question remains why did he do it? Why did he write this book?
Considering that since this book was published, Ariel Sharon has almost succeeded in erasing every memory of the triumphs of the Oslo agreements; he has been re-elected; Israel has had several suicide incidents because of its collapsing economy; Yassir Arafat has been labeled relatively irrelevant; the Iraqi regime has been subverted; Mahoud Abbas, Abu Mazen, has been sworn in as the first Palestinian Prime Minister in history; two days ago the Bush administration published its suggestion for the solution of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, the infamous "Road Map". All this has happened as a result of the 11-9 attack on the World Trade Center, since this book was published. If you are looking for updated analysis and reports of what is going on in Israel, you'd better stick to the newspapers.
La Guardia's book, however, provides a detailed survey of this area's religious and political history; in Althusserian terminology La Guardia presents the different ideological apparuteses' influence on the area's history. His backgound as a reporter can easily be traced in the narrative, but it also gives a flow to the reading of a dense account.
The ideas are not new; the parties involved has not changed; Arafat is still Arafat, and Sharon is still Sharon. to those reviewers, who are complaining about La Guadia's lack of objectivity, should notice that this conflict is a conflict of opnions and contrasting views. I do not encourage you to choose side, but if you want to search for objectivity, go buy a cooking book. envigorating subjectivity is always welcome. This book should be read at least once for the sake of refreshing your memory. if you are not acquainted with the subtle details of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict then i'll give this book five stars as it introduces the subject excellently.
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Title: Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land by David K. Shipler ISBN: 0142002291 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: May, 2002 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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Title: Struggle and Survival in the Modern Middle East by Edmund III Burke ISBN: 0520079884 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: June, 1994 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Middle East and Islamic World Reader by Marvin E. Gettleman, Stuart Schaar ISBN: 0802139361 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: April, 2003 List Price(USD): $18.50 |
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Title: Six Days of War : June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East by Michael B. Oren ISBN: 0345461924 Publisher: Presidio Press Pub. Date: 03 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Islam,: The Straight Path by John L. Esposito ISBN: 0195112342 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: January, 1998 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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