Customer Reviews

The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, The West, and The Future of the Holy City

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The PLO and other affiliated groups, including the President of Iran, have vowed to exterminate Israel. This has proved more difficult than they have vowed it to be over the decades since Israel's modern re-establishment. Many different strategies have been applied through countless different tactical approaches, but despite the death and mayhem, Israel still stands. Among the more recent approaches is that of Temple Denial. That is, Yassir Arafat began preaching that there never was a Temple on the Temple Mount. That if there ever was a temple it was actually somewhere else.

The evidence against this theory is overwhelming, but is hardly known by the general person today. Many influential media outlets, college programs on Middle-Easter Studies, and certain politicians from around the world are so supportive of the "Palestinian Cause" that they are willing to support any political wedge to help them including misrepresenting the evidence of the history of the Jews and of Israel.

This very helpful book explains the evidence of the history of the Jews and the Arabs in Palestine (a term for the area invented by a Roman emperor when he wanted to punish the Jews and named it after their traditional enemies the Philistines - a people of Aegean heritage, not Arab).

The author, Dore Gold, has served as Israel's ambassador to the United Nations. He begins the book by introducing us to the problem of Temple Denial. The book is presented in three parts. 1) The Religious Dimension of Jerusalem, 2) The Diplomatic Struggle over Jerusalem, and 3) Radical Islam and Jerusalem.

Unless you are already deeply familiar with the history of the area and all the conflicting arguments and claims, you will likely learn a great deal from this book. The first part takes us through what Jerusalem has meant to the Jews, the Christians, and Islam over the millennia. The second part discusses the political treatment of the area and how these claims have been mediated before, during, and after the Ottoman Empire, the realities of the area during the 19th century (did you know that in the second half of the 19th century that Jews outnumbered Arabs in Jerusalem?), the political work towards and against the establishment of a Jewish homeland, and how it came about. And, finally, the struggle and political conflicts since Israel was established by a United Nations charter.

With all this background the reader is in a better position to understand part III and the way radical Islam (or the Islamofacists or Jihadists - whatever you want to call them) has used its claims and approaches to Jerusalem in their global struggle against the West rather than the struggle originating because of Israel and Jerusalem. It is an especially interesting part and currently relevant part of the book. I found the discussion of the current stream of apocalyptic vision in Islam to be particularly interesting in understanding the global War on Terror we are having to fight.

Mr. Gold does consider the various sides of the arguments made and the evidence for each. Obviously, he will be charged with bias, but anyone who reads the book will find that charge awfully weak. It isn't that we don't all have self-interest, but even when one has personal interests in one side of the argument, one can fairly present all the evidence. That way when the other side presents its case one can compare their expression of all the evidence and see who is being more objective (not completely objective).
I recommend this book to anyone interested getting good information about this important topic and is a tired of the constant drumbeat against Israel (for example, Jimmy Carter's recent tome that all but accuses Israel of apartheid). Please get it, read it, and keep your mind open to what the author is actually saying rather than dismissing him out of hand or imputing his arguments with things he is not saying.

The appendix also has a dozen relevant documents that you can read as they are discussed in the text.


Strongly recommended.

I have never had such an exciting time learning so much! I always knew Jerusalem was sacred, hotly contested, and a flashpoint of conflict. What I didn't know until now was how Jerusalem is being used to launch an apocalypse, by champions who are serious and armed enough to start a new world war. Alarming as it is, I was still glad to learn that we can fight this threat, and that protecting Jerusalem ultimately means protecting so much more. Beyond that, this book is an enjoyable and fast read, especially for such a fact-rich account: I learned everything I could ever have wanted to know about this amazing city, all the way back to King David. What a thrilling experience!!

I agree with Mr. Isaac that Christians and Jews should read this informative and riveting history of Jerusalem. While Christianity and Judiaism have direct religious ties to Jerusalem, Islamic radicals discover Jerusalem when it serves a political puropose. Dore Gold's Fight For Jerusalem documents this reality.

Like his perviuos books, Dore Gold proves himself to be a first-rate researcher that lets the facts tell his story. This book contains many fascinating maps and photographs that help bring to life this unique city. Any one who reads the Fight For Jerusalem will come away with important information that will help them understand the importance of Israel's capital.

This book was a terrifically fun read, especially the color photos and the archaeological scoops. Also some pretty shocking current events material; who knew Jerusalem is becoming as central to the balance of power as it was 2000 years ago? But in the opposite way from what I thought! Best of all, 'The Fight' is an honest, scholarly account that's quite balanced -- putting every religion, every concerned party and its potential role in the city in the best possible light. One flaw: by the incredible 'Publisher's Weekly' standard -- above on this page -- the book does lean a little bit "anti-fundamentalist." What a horrible "slant"!(or shold I say, with criticism like that, who needs praise?)

I've read dozens of books on the subject of Jerusalem! This one stands apart! Dore Gold has done a great service to anyone seeking a true history of this city right up to the present day; the city at the center of the World.

Certainly he is biased as an Israeli diplomat but who isn't biased when it comes to this subject? His facts are accurate and not hysterical as opposed to some with a different point of view. He makes his case.

I especially recommend this book to Messianic Jews and Evangelical Christians who want the facts and want a glimpse of what is "right around the corner."

This book is divided into three sections. In the first the religious dimension of Jerusalem is considered. The meaning of Jerusalem for Ancient Israel, for Christianity , and for Classical Islam are accurately and fairly outlined. In the second part of the book which considers the diplomatic struggle over Jerusalem, there is chapter devoted to the Birth of 'Modern Israel', one to 'Jerusalem, the Palestinian Arabs and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan', and one to the 'Arab- Israel Peace Process.' The third and most important section of the book is devoted to Radical Islam and Jerusalem. There is a chapter on 'Destruction of the Holy Sites', one on 'Jerusalem as Apocalyptic Trigger for Radical Islam, one 'The West and the Freedom of Jerusalem'.
In this third section of the book Gold gives a short history of the development of Radical Islam. He tells of the Islamic destruction of the religious sites of other faiths, from the largest Buddhist statues in the world in Afghanistan to sites in the heart of the Arab world. He shows how Western diplomatic concessions have not led to moderation but rather an intensification of fanaticism by radical Islamists. He tells the story of the Muslim destruction of important archaeological remains in Jerusalem. He shows how radical Islam's obsession with Jerusalem is another manifestation of the clash of civilizations between radical Islam and other religious faiths and civilizations.
The demonstrating of Islamic disrespect and destruction for the Holy Places of others is at the heart of his argument that Jerusalem must remain undivided under Israeli rule. Additional evidence for this claim is given by the Palestinian reaction to Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and the Shiite Hizbollah's reaction to Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. Both of these withdrawals did not lead to moderation and peace, but rather to more violence against Israel. Gold shows how the Islamist Palestinians have when given civilian control over a city or area persecuted and led to the exile of its Christians .The most blatant example is Bethlehem which has not simply lost its Christian majority but seen the greatest share of its Christian population leave the City. Gold says that had Israel in September 2000 relinquished control over the Old City of Jerusalem to the Palestinians the result would have been the destruction of a a good share of it. Gold also considers the possibility of internationalization of the Holy City , and provides convincing evidence that the U.N. could not handle this job effectively any more than it handled the job in Rwanda or Bosnia. Gold also points to the inherent prejudice of the U.N. against Israel, and says it could never be a fair and efficient manager of the Holy Sites.
This book makes a very strong case for Israel's maintaining exclusive control of the city.
But the arguments it presents focus more on the negatives of Islamic control than the positives of Israeli control. I would have liked to see more expansive treatment of how Israel has enhanced the city since taking over the Old City in 1967.
Nonetheless this is a must read for those for whom Jerusalem, and its future, is dear.

Fantastic book. Dr. Gold gives an accurate and enlightening history of HaIr KaKodesh, the Holy City. He shows the development of the culture, as well as the conquests and attitudes that have changed the world's perceptions. This book is not only for Jewish readers, but would also be an excellent resource for Muslims and Christians who wish to learn the facts, and not just the emotions of the situation facing the City.

Former Israel ambassador to the U.N. (among his many other credentials) Dore Gold presents The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, the West, and the future of the Holy City, a serious-minded discussion of the future of Jerusalem, a city holy to Christians, Jews, and Muslims. The Fight for Jerusalem makes a convincing argument that for Jerusalem to be a free city where all faiths can be practiced, it will have to remain under Israeli sovereignty, because the United Nations cannot be relied upon to protect it and the Muslim Palestinians have become increasingly affected by a branch of radical Islam that seeks to eliminate other faiths from Jerusalem, not co-exist with them. Drawing upon meticulous scholarly research, The Fight for Jerusalem addresses how Palestinians are destroying archaeological evidence of ancient Jewish presence in Jerusalem, particularly on the Temple Mount; how Western diplomatic concessions strengthen the apocalyptic speculations of radical Muslims; how the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza brought more power to Palestinian extremists at the expense of Palestinian moderates; why negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority over the status of Jerusalem have little chance of creating an agreement; and much more. It should be noted that The Fight for Jerusalem specifically denounces the religious intolerance radical Islam, and recognizes that the majority of the Muslim world is not radical, though The Fight for Jerusalem decries the increasing power that radical Islamic factions have. A politically charged yet thoughtfully reasoned exhortation on how Jerusalem, a potential focal point of radical Islam's jihad against the West, can best be preserved for future generations.

This is a very hard book to rate and evaluate. It is at the same time engrossing and fascinating while containing significant imperfections and structural issues. Any book on this subject, and thus every review as well, is going to be controversial in some aspects. The elements one will applaud will be derided by another. Therefore, I ask that you bear this review out to the bitter end.

First the uncontested bits of the review. This book is a political history of the city of Jerusalem focusing on the relationship that the great monotheistic religions have had with the Holy City. It can be divided into three portions, the first, taking about a third of the book is the ancient history of the City from pre-biblical times to the dawn of the modern age, the second part, taking about the same amount of space is the modern history of the city with a focus on the British mandatory rule and the introduction of Israeli sovereignty. Finally, it discusses the recent history particularly focusing on the last 10 - 15 years. Interspersed throughout the book are discussions of international law and sovereignty issues. It is written in very easy to understand prose making it very "readable" though it can be a little dry at times.

Now for the more controversial part. This book is written by a former Israeli diplomat to the UN who has significant and often first hand experience about his topic. One of the persistent bugbears of the study of history is that those who often know the most about a topic are the ones with the greatest vested interest. That is especially the case here. Gold clearly has an agenda, making it very hard to evaluate the veracity of his assertions. Knowing this, I approached the book knowing the author's background and on the lookout for bias.

What I found was a manageable amount of bias in two forms. The first is "lesser source bias" This is the very human tendency to credit sources that support your point of view while discounting those that don't. We all do this (just honestly monitor your reactions to this review if you want proof), and since this is not carried to an unreasonable extreme I am forced to forgive it (perhaps revealing my own lesser source bias?). Less forgivable was a tendency to spin the data. This means that negative material is presented in as positive a light as possible. In one or two places the author teeters on the brink of intellectual dishonesty with spin. I will cite one example: he discusses the Deir Yassin incident, where right wing Jewish Militias captured a village in 1948 and massacred approximately 100 (actual numbers are in legitimate dispute) AFTER the battle was over. Historically their actions were so bad that Ben Gurion condemned them and the local Rabbinate excommunicated them. (note: to give "equal time" The Arabs also committed massacres on a very similar scale in the Mt. Scopus and Kfar Etzion massacres). None of this would be apparent from reading Gold's work however. He simply says that the Dier Yassin villagers died in the assault. This is technically true, but a very bad case of spin. (for a very balanced account read O'Jerusalem.)

Getting past the bias, which is present to some degree in almost EVERY book on the subject I have found, the book is wonderfully researched. He examines the ancient sources very effectively and brilliantly summarized much of the historiography. Gold lays out the Israeli side of the argument with great skill and supports it with a wealth of data. Particularly interesting is his examination of Fundementalist Islam's evolving relationship with other religions and holy places.

This book's major failing is a lack of role. Let me explain. The book was primarily meant to refute Arafat's claims, since echoed throughout the Arab world, that the Jews have NO historical or theological claim to Jerusalem. Arafat even went so far as to claim that the First and Second Temples were never in Jerusalem. Gold's book does refute that claim, and others like it, brilliantly. But it leaves the question: who is he trying to convince? Is anyone who would believe Arafat's rubbish likely to read this book or trust Gold as a source? No. Is anyone who agrees with Gold's views likely to need to read to book to know that Jerusalem has been holy to three major religions for hundreds and in cases thousands of years? No.

What the book does a better job of is laying out the Israeli argument for continued sovereignty over the City. However, in that capacity the bias becomes a major problem. Less problematic is his criticism of fundamentalist Islam which he presents clearly and clinically without much in the way of spin or bias.

All that said, it is still a good solid history of the Holy City which I can recommend for all readers for that purpose only. the prescriptive measures suggested are useful only to the professional diplomat as a view into the Israeli official mind on the subject. So go read the book (but keep the source in mind) if you want an overview of the "Jerusalem Problem," but be sure to read other books on the subject as well.

Mr. Gold has had an intriguing history of exposing through historical precedents and context the most interesting institutions. This book is no exception with Jerusalem, the city in the Middle East that can perhaps be said to represent the modicum of freedom and Western values that exists there, and why it's imperative that it be held and protected against any antithetical forces surrounding it, either there or abroad.

Dore Gold does the reader and novice (or even university-educated) reader a great and grandiose service by documenting not just how long the Jews have been living in modern Israel, but showing us just how long they've been under attack, kept as slaves, as Dhimmis, whipped commodities of Europe's countries, and generally how it all started. The Bar-Kochba revolution against the just-turned Roman imperialists is a great account, told with brevity, but demonstrating what the Jews have been through just to hold on to their tiny piece of land, and how many empires have swept through it.

A previous writer said that there's blame on both sides to the conflict, and that giving away land to the anarchistic Palestinian terror groups is being open minded. I would pose the question that Dore Gold answers for us: If Jerusalem and its surrounding environs were given over eventually to Arabic, Islamic forces, there would be no tolerance of religion whatsoever for any soul in the land. Already, the last Christians are fleeing any part of Israel that is controlled by Palestinian faction groups, whose version of Islam doesn't even allow for Fatah's to promulgate.

There are previous accusations that Gold's sources are flimsy. Since when are speeches of those involved, podcasts of the same, and books irrelevant and not conducive to research? What's omitted from some critics' reviews is the presentation of vast amounts of historical and recent archeological surfacing that has vindicated those who taught us about the unified Davidic Kingdom and the tribes of Israel before his time. If you don't read more than the first 2 chapters, you're already richly rewarded by gaining a historical eye covering about 1400 years of Israelite history.

I think one of the most important misnomers that have stuck with us is that the land of ancient Canaan/Israel was only named Palestine by the Romans once they began establishing exploratory garrisons. They aptly named it after "Philistines" who had residence there still after so many quasi-empiric swaths through Israel.

Dore Gold might be a nationalist-rightist when it comes to Israel, but how do we coin the conservative label when Gold's main theme for the conflict is encouraging us to look at what happens every time Israel DOES cede land that THEY held onto by being the victor of a grossly-agressive war by the major Arabic countries. Look at Hamas in Gaza, exterminating all their Fatah "brothers," showing us that the muhajadeen applies to their own kind as well.

Gore's book is a real justice and service that lends some researched wisdom as to what's been happening in Israel, and how other Arabic nations are overwhelmingly complicit in the plight of the Palestinians. What else can we expect from a people who declare all of Palestine theirs by right, have rejected statehood 3 times, and have it in their charter (Hamas, Fatah) and educational materials (The PA) to disregard Jews as human and an unregognizing of Israel's right to live and survive? As we've seen, we can't expect much, only chaos, wasted Western money that helped almost no Palestinian when it's in their hands, and a drive to throwback tribalism that knows no bounds as to the glories of fighting Jews and infidels. This is a great history book that should be on everyone's shelves, even if you wish to "hear no evil,see no evil," which I like to call "disagreeing" with it.

Again, if there is to be any alternative to religous and secular tolerance in the Middle East, it has proven only to be in Israel, and the state's poliltical and religious flag, Jerusalem, cannot be given over or divided if it is to remain that way. Dore Gold has made that painstakingly clear, and it gives us great hope to see the victories of Israel against forces that would see it otherwise--which is most of the world.