Customer Reviews

Fateful Triangle, Updated Edition: The United States, Israel, and the Palestinians (South End Press Classics Series)

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

Noam Chomsky delves into a delicate subject for many Americans, Israel and the politics surrounding our unwavering support of their regime. Chomsky, himself a nominal Jewish American, takes an academic and objective approach to examining the "special relationship" between the US and Israel and the dynamics surrounding the specific exchanges that have gone on for decades. What is apparent is that Chomsky has learned and given in great detail certain specific information about Israel's actions that make those who support Israel nervous and outraged. Chomsky doesn't pull any punches when he describes Israel's reasons for invading Lebanon and the illegality of that action. He discusses the role of American Jewry and their attempt to intertwine the tragedy of the Jewish Holocaust of WWII with the destiny of Israel. To speak out against Israel, Chomsky argues, is to be dubbed anti-Semitic. The fear of being called anti-Semitic has stopped many Americans from discussing the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in an objective manner (as they would with other similar situations). He goes on to discuss the politics of the Arab-Israeli wars, popular perception and myth, and the reasons behind what motivates America to support Israel's actions with little or no criticism (even in the face of worldwide condemnation). For skeptics and other critics Chomsky includes prodigious notes and primary sources on the subject and leaves room for little doubt as to his reasoning. The newer updated version has a foreword written by Edward Said that is quite poignant and apt: "There is something profoundly moving about a mind of such noble ideals repeatedly stirred on behalf of human suffering and injustice." I couldn't have said it better myself. Far from being "anti-Semitic," this book is an honest analysis by a courageous academic crusader, willing to disregard his supposed religious affliation for the greater good and to serve the cause of justice and truth in reporting. Chomsky is not for those readers seeking an easy answer to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and is not certainly not for those without an open mind. Highly recommended.

I've read many books by many authors on the subject of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and I would have to say that this book is the best of the bunch. It is a classic. He backs up every single statement he makes with facts, often quoting Israeli sources. He is so thorough in his arguments that it is practically impossible to argue against him.

One of the reviews below dismissed this work as being biased and anti-Semetic. This is a ridiculous claim considering the fact that Chomsky is Jewish and used to teach Hebrew when he was younger. This individual also stated that the Arab states created the problem of the Palestinian refugees. This is simply not true and even Israeli historians dismiss such claims as lies and propoganda (eg. Morris, Segev, Flapan, etc.).

Buy it, read it, study it... it is an impressive work.

I'm going to break with the convention of the other reviewers and give this book a 3.

The first thing prospective readers should know is that this is not (despite the implication of the title) a general review of of Israeli-Palistinian-US relations. Almost half of the book is taken up by a detailed review of the 1982 war in Lebanon. This would have made sense in 1983 when the book was originally published, but 20 years it later makes for a skewed focus. The first few chapters provide some rather spotty background history. And the additional material in the new addition is essentially a few slightly reworked Z Magazine articles which are not really integrated into the rest of the book. Even for the events focused on, this book is not designed as a complete history. In classical Chomsky style, it is designed to be an antidote the to incomplete history provided by the mainstream media. The style of the book is also classical Chomsky, an almost stream of conciousness flow of information demolishing the standard historical explination and bolstering his own. However, put together, these two factors make the book difficult to follow for a reader not already well versed in the events.

Despite this negative begining, don't think that I'm one of those Chomsky-bashers who give 1 star to everything he's ever written. I actually like Noam. And I am generally persuaded by his analysis. However, after slogging through this book I felt that the lasting knowledge I will take from it could have been fit into 100 pages rather than 550. So unless you have a serious interest in the 1982 war in Lebanon this probably isn't the book for you.

In addition to being "arguably the most important intellectual alive," according to the New York Times, renouned linguist Noam Chomsky was cited as a source more often than any living scholar between 1980-1992, by the Arts and Humanities Citation Index. He sure proves his supremacy in this detailed and angry account of the Palestinian Israeli struggle and the US & Western media role in it.

Exposing human suffering and death is Chomsky's eternal goal in all of his foreign policy publications; he is merciless when it comes to injustice and violations of human rights. Not only does he meticulously detail all the factors and facts of the conflict in this book, but also transcends the big picture into the suffering and humiliation of the average Palestinian in his daily life, be it in the occupied territory or Lebanon. All facts are skillfully put into perspective where the views relating to both sides are listed, leading to irrefutable conclusions.

As customary of Chomsky's writings, an infinite amount of quotes is collected from both sides of the conflict, which are then woven together into his text creating a factual, and often, sarcastic picture of the issue and the people involved. Using their actual words he exposes the hypocrisy and deception of the Israeli leadership.

Chomsky's frequent use of long sentences makes it necessary to read the text slowly. Sometimes it is necessary to read each paragraph twice to comprehend the usually profound conclusion.

As usual his analysis reflect his powerful insight into the issue involved, which gives the allusion that Chomsky is a scholar in this field only. The depth of Chomsky's account in anything he addresses surpass that of most scholars in the respective topics addressed. The Fateful Triangle is as deep as any analysis of the Arab-Israeli conflict gets.

Chomsky is way ahead of his time in this writing, as he documents many of the issues that were only recently realized. These include the roots and deception of th! e present "peace process" (Oslo), and also the fact that the Israeli press is the best source for information, and is more superior to the western (U.S.) one which usually is dedicated to portraying Israel as the victim while the Palestinians as oppressors. Israeli press is not timid when discussing many issues that are considered taboos in the U.S. such as Israel's control (through its lobbies) of the U.S. Middle East foreign policies.

Among the many Apartheid-style laws in Israel, Chomsky discusses how the Jewish National Fund, relying on U.S. tax-exempt donations, maintains 92% of the land in Israel for the sole use of Jews only.

Another crucial issue discussed is the fact that the Labor left is more dangerous than the Likud right, which lies in the difference between their pronounced versus actual policies. While the Likud does things in-your-face style, the Labor preachs one thing to the world, while doing the complete opposite (such as settlement building). Labor usually speaks in a more mellow tone than Likud and is more skillful and diplomatic, -- a trait attractive to the West -- when it comes to covering up the oppression of the Palestinians.

Yet another of the issues cleverly avoided in the Western Media (so as to shield Israel from criticism and keep the local population ignorant) is the many Arab initiatives for peace that were rejected by Israel, such as Sadat's 1971 and PLO's 1976 offers. Chomsky also exposes how the PLO would not respond to Israeli provocation, (prior to the 1982 invasion of Lebanon) the purpose of which is to give Israel pretext for an invasion or a raid. A monumental revelation is that of how Israel fears a more politically strong PLO than a terrorist organization, which is the direction the PLO was moving in, and which is the reason Israel was relentlessly trying to force the PLO into a terrorist path which would strip it from its growing international status.

Chomsky's account of the Palestinian-Israeli-American relations is as usual, heav! ily documented and referenced. The volume of material researched is astounding to say the least. Chomsky's reliance on the Israeli press and Zionist publications as well as Arab and world literature on this issue makes this work highly authoritative.

About 50% of the book is devoted to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and the destruction of Palestinian society there, as well as the Western media coverage of it. The devastation and the civilian toll inflicted by Israel are angrily criticized, and the Israel-apologist nature of many of the U.S. reporters' coverage of the events there, are meticulously dissected and refuted. Notably, the coverage by the New Republic editor Martin Peretz, based on "testimonies of Israeli soldiers", are put into perspective by contrasting them to the coverage by the Israeli press, which portrays a vastly more accurate picture of the invasion.

The Fateful Triangle is a masterpiece and should be the first and mandatory reading to all interested in this conflict and to human right activists in general. After reading Chomsky's work one surely feels wiser and more astute in analyzing issues and detecting media deception. 10/10.

No matter how much evasion and no matter how much sugar coating is used, the truth stands clear: Israel/Zionism is just a brutal occupation, whose victims are the Palestinians. Chomsky's account sees clearly through all the sugar-coating and other media-overlaid gloss. Chomsky's account is of course imbalanced, because truth isn't either. Can one be asked to write a balanced account of the Holocaust, for example? The same is true here. No human rights violator is safe from Chomsky's rage. A refreshing account of the truth.

From Richard Clogg - Choice:
{This is} a monumental work. . . . Chomsky's command of factual detail isoverwhelming, his argument is cogently made, and the documentation, which makes much use of the Israeli and European press, is careful. Recommended to students of US foreign policy, the modern Middle East, and to all general readers.

From Avishai Margalit - The New York Review of Books:
Painful as it is for me to acknowledge it, we Israelis should, I believe,plead guilty to many of Chomsky's charges. Not to the charges as he states them, but to something not altogether unlike them. . . . Chomsky's indictment is highly detailed. Virtually no felony is missing, no misdeed left unaccounted for. And yet, though he finds Israel a sinful state, the clash between Israel and the Palestinians is in Chomsky's eyes a conflict of 'right against right.'

If you are comfortable with American foreign policy in the Middle East, this book offers a great opportunity to test your comfort. For some the most difficult part about reading something like this will be clearing their head of decades of US-Israeli bias in America's press and popular culture. Remind yourself that it really is ok to consider opposing views and then see for yourself if you still like the way the United States coddles and manipulates Israel's violent self-interest for its own gains.

You will find excellent resources for further study and consideration, including updated discussion covering recent developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Sources are plentiful. Regardless of where you ultimately land on this debate, the book is well-documented and useful.

Dr. Chomsky is at his usual unstoppable best in this seminal tome, effectively demolishing mainstream, accepted ideas about Israel and the Middle East by quoting exhaustively from myriad sources.

Read this book if you are interested in an honest, no-holds-barred picture of the modern Middle East. This book cuts so hard against the grain of American media coverage that it my fingers bleed just to hold it.

As a gentile, my perspective on Israeli/zionist issues is automatically skewed to be that of an outsider, right? How can I question the motivations of the Israeli state, or its U.S. benefactors? When Chomsky questions these institutions, he's labeled a "self-hating" jew. The power of this book is in its Big Ideas, not the prose-style. He clearly illustrates the hypocrisy of the "counter terrorist" tactics of Israel, without excusing the barbaric practices of the PLO. The most obvious, knee-jerk criticism of this book is that it only goes after Israel and its American puppeteers, with insufficient condemnation of the many innocent lives cut short by the PLO. The reality, in line with that surrounding most, if not all of Chomsky's books, is that this critique misses the point altogether. There is no lack of criticism of the PLO in the popular media. But there is also no voice for those who have suffered at the hands of Israeli policy either. That voice is easily passed off as support for PLO violence, not documentation -- often to stamp out the possibility of dialogue that might challenge age-old ethnic beliefs and grudges. Just as a bloated windbag like Rush Limbaugh has the right to be heard so that rational society knows what it's up against, Chomsky deserves to be read, and not brushed off with convenient, paranoid name-calling. Though written in 1984, "Fateful..." will show you how little the Middle East conflict has changed, and why.

Although acknowledging and criticizing Palestinian violence, Chomsky focuses primarily on Israeli violence. Writing most of this book in 1982, he justifies this emphasis by the claim that Israeli violence had been greatly underreported. He might have added that the Israelis had by that time slaughtered far more Palestinians (and other Arabs) than vice versa. Nevertheless, if a camera continually shows A hitting B and rarely shows B hitting A, it creates a bias in favor of B.

Though often cogently derived, his judgments are driven into the reader's skull. No "light touch" here, or letting the facts and the reasoning "speak for themselves." That the points were made in an earlier chapter does not prevent their being insistently repeated in later chapters.

Still, I owe to Chomsky crucial information partly or wholly missing from other books on the same period (e.g., Howard Sachar, "A History of Israel"; Benny Morris, "Righteous Victims"; Martin Gilbert, "Israel, A History").

As only one example, take Chomsky's coverage of Israeli military operations in Lebanon between 1967 and 1982. The operations ranged from the repeated bombardment of villages, towns and cities by Israeli planes, artillery, tanks and gunboats - using "shells, bombs, phosphorous, incendiary bombs, CBUs and napalm" - to large-scale invasions in 1978, 1979, 1981 and 1982. The Israeli government rationalized the operations as retaliation for violence against Israelis by Palestinians living in Lebanon.

The most striking fact is the wild disproportion between the destruction inflicted on the Israelis and the amount they inflicted "in retaliation." Chomsky gives 106 as the total number of Israelis killed in terrorist attacks from Lebanon during this fifteen-year period. He has no complete total for Palestinians in Lebanon, plus native Lebanese, killed by Israeli operations during the same years, but he provides five sub-totals, which account for most of the time: about 1000 in 1967-1974, 2000 in 1978, 969 in 1979, 450 in 1981, and 19,085 in 1982, yielding 23,500. No figures are given for Israelis killed in military action until the 1982 invasion, in which 446 died. The Israeli dead were overwhelmingly combatants; among the Palestinian and Lebanese dead, the combatant proportion was much lower, but not specified.

Comparing the number of Israeli dead from Lebanese-based terror, 1967-82, with the number of Palestinian and Lebanese dead in retaliation, we have 106/23500, a ratio of 1 to 222. Not "an eye for an eye," but 222 lives for a life! Adding Israeli combatants to the death toll from Israeli military operations, we have 106 Israeli deaths from Lebanon-based terrorist action, compared with 24,000 Palestinian, Lebanese, and Israeli deaths resulting from the Israeli attacks, a ratio of 1 to 226. Also, the attacks wounded, captured and/or rendered homeless hundreds of thousands of people, predominantly Palestinian and Lebanese, and caused many billions of dollars worth of damage to buildings and other infrastructure in Lebanon.

Writing in 1983, Chomsky footnotes his figures primarily from US and Israeli newspaper articles, which in turn cite Lebanese, UN, or Israeli officials. I have checked many of these, and find them correct. It would have been useful if, in preparing later editions of the book, he had ascertained whether more accurate statistics on the death and destruction inflicted had become available. But the chapters on Israeli military operations in Lebanon have not been revised.

This is one of the most disturbing and compelling indictments of Israel's apartheid policies and terror tactics (supported by the US Government) not only against its captive overpowered palestinian victims in the occupied teritories but also against Lebanon its peaceful and once prosperous neighbour to the north.

Thoroughly documented with evidence and facts particularly about Israel's 1982 invasion and military occupation of Lebanon which caused the death of more than 20000 people mostly civilians, produced the Sabra and Chatila massacre and which lasted for 18 years. Most of Chomsky's sources are authoritative and honest israeli and american government, military and media representatives.

Noam Chomsky is a brave and honourable jewish/american academic, in the best tradition of the jewish people, who believes in human rights and has the courage to say the hidden historical truth as it is, contrary to its constant travesty witnessed on a daily basis in the western mainstream media.

Regretfully, most of this media is now owned/controlled by a few conglomerates and dominated/manipulated by the pro-israel, pro-war lobbies who will go to any length to distort history and facts hollywood style in favor of Israel's version of events, i.e transforming the victim into the aggressor and vice versa!

A must reading for anyone interested in learning the true story of what has been happening in the Holy Lands and why .