This short book summarizes some rather obvious truths about the Arab-Israeli conflict. I'm giving it five stars only because many of these truths are disputed in what ought to be respectable places.
The first chapter traces the roots of some of the Arab anti-Israeli aggression to the German National Socialists. The second chapter shows an additional source of inspiration for these aggressors, namely the Communist Soviet Union. As Meir-Levy explains, the Levantine Arabs have never had a sovereign state. Nor have they been a people or a nation, or even claimed to be one prior to the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. When the West Bank was controlled by Jordan, there was no move to liberate that land from Jordan: Arafat's gang had designs only on Israel. The author claims that Arafat in fact created "the only national movement for political self-determination in the entire world, and across all of world history, to have destruction of a sovereign state and the genocide of a people as its only raison d'etre." I think that's pretty much the case, although some national movements, such as that of the Sudeten Germans, have been similar in some respects.
The focus of the third chapter is on Hamas. Israel at first hoped that Hamas might be a counterweight to Arafat's organization. But when Hamas began a long series of deadly terror attacks, Israel outlawed it, in 1989. Here, Meir-Levy points out that "perhaps the most valuable asset of all for Hamas has been the United Nations.
Chapter Four discusses a very specific lie, namely, "Zionists stole our land." And while it is true that from the year 1880 to 1930, about eight hundred families were indeed rendered landless by Jewish land purchases during that time, these were in fact legal purchases. I would add that the presence of the Jews improved the economy and caused an increase, not a decrease, in the Arab population.
Yes, there was a flight of Arabs in 1947 and 1948, but that was brought about not by the Zionists, but by Arab aggression, which caused the Jews to defend themselves. The resulting war did cause many Arabs to flee, but this was in no way a Jewish plot to steal land! Yes, I am sure that many Zionists dearly wanted to buy more land, but once again, I favor legal purchases of land and I think it is outrageous to call such purchases (especially when one is the high bidder and pays high prices) "theft."
The fifth chapter is about the Levantine Arab refugees. As the author tells us, the State of Israel was not responsible for the refugee status of these people, and it is a malicious lie to say otherwise. In fact, I would remind people that Israel has been reprimanded by the United Nations when it has tried to get Arabs to be resettled and out of the refugee camps.
These days, some revisionist historians imply that there was a master Israeli plan to massacre Arabs and ethnically cleanse the region. But the author replies that at the time, there were "no reports in the world press, including the Arab press and those elements of the Western press openly hostile to Israel, about any such actions of which Israel today stands condemned." Yes, there was a battle at Deir Yassin (prior to the establishment of Israel), but that was not part of some overall plan of this sort. And even the battle of Deir Yassin has been badly misreported by those who wanted to show Israel in a negative light.
The final chapter is on one more myth, namely that of colonial occupation. It includes a discussion of the Israeli West Bank towns, which have been branded by some folks as "illegal" settlements.
I think it ought to be obvious that we humans are better off with truth than with lies, no matter what it is we wish to accomplish, and I think this book is useful in distinguishing between truth and lies. I recommend it.