Customer Reviews

Israel on the Couch: The Psychology of the Peace Process (Suny Series in Israeli Studies)

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Will someone please stop psychologists from writing books and making hefty conclusions? Most of modern psychology has been discredited anyway and psychiatry amount to drugging people. I could've stood to hear a cogent philsophical analysis of motivations but that's a book yet to be written. I don't understand how books like this are even published, thick verbose theories with no relevance to reality. Where is the book analyzing Israeli fantasies about the intentions of their neighbors and debunking the bomber as a desperate poor soul instead of someone usually middle class, educated and very young and abused by a toxic culture and child abusers?

I think it is always a good idea to think about the psychological aspects of being at war. And Grosbard does want Israelis to modify their behavior, and try to imagine how they appear to others. That's a good idea!

That idea is worth a star! And I gave this book a star.

Behavior modification is a tricky subject. It means accepting truth, not meekly admitting to false accusations. It means being generous and pleasant whenever given a chance to do so. But it also means drawing a line. It does not mean supporting others in criminal behavior. And it certainly does not mean relinquishing any claims (for oneself and one's community) to the human rights of life, liberty, or property.

Unfortunately, this book did not distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate behavior in this regard. It encouraged Jews to accept wild Arab complaints as valid. That's not the way to have harmony among a mixed population!

I also think there needs to be more of a discussion of Arabs on the couch. After all, the Arabs are the ones who can make peace. It might be a good idea if they understood why many Jews do not entirely trust some of them. And it might also be a good idea to see what it could mean to value truth in order to achieve a peace that would result in everyone being happier and more prosperous.

very few intellectually enriching moments. Mostly banal and naive. Sometimes even offensive. I really am enlightened to know the Jewish analog of a suicide bomber is...Samson! Also the author would be advised to research the Jews displaced and expelled from arab countries in the early 20th century as well as the ongoing Jewish presence in "palestine" as well as the original population of Palestine before new Jews emigrated and began cultivating unusable land (thereby attracting arabs). The total population was about 3/4 million so how could all the current arabs be refugees. In addition, it is a FACT that arab countries encouraged Arabs in Palestine to leave because they thought they'd have a quick victory over Israel. Yes some Arabs were expelled but not in the numbers described, nothing even close. In addition, Jews living in Israel in the early 20th century west bank were viciously attacked in Arab initiated pogroms. I guess Israelis are in denial for not swallowing the propaganda. The author is in denial of history! The palestinian refugees are the worlds oldest! how is it other refugee problems have been settled? Just because something is repeated over and over again (millions of arabs displaced, impossible there werent even a million people in the time period!) doesnt make it true.

mostly useless psychobabble with a few(very few) intellectually engaging moments. On another note, Mr. Grosbard perpetuates the myth that the Arabs were displaced en masse. Some were, but more were encouraged by their own arab countries to leave (thinking they'd win a big victory over Israel). In addition, Palestine was sparsely populated the Jewish pioneers who cultivated the then unusable land attracted Arabs. Most of today's refugees are not genuinely refugees. Some passages I even found offensive, like not calling a "madman" a madman because then we distance ourselves from him. I can still understand motives even if I label a madman a madman, a madman deserves the designation if its justified. Worth a chuckle or two that the author mentions the Jewish analog of a suicide bomber is...Samson! Now we can all relate!