Customer Reviews

Israelis and Palestinians: Why Do They Fight? Can They Stop?, Second Edition

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is not a beginners book. It assumes some knowledge of the origins and major players in the conflict. Wasserstein believes that the Israelis and Palestinians will end their decades long conflict in the near future due to various circumstances. These are population, environment, and the declining impact of
Zionism. He does not specify when he believes this may happen, but he gives many reasons why Israel's occupation of the Palestinians is becoming more and more untenable.

Population - Israel wants to remain a predominantly Jewish state. The Arab population is growing more rapidly that the Jewish population due to higher birthrates and an exodus of Jews trying to escape the conflict and Israel's troubled economy. In Israel, Arabs make up about a sixth of the population. This precentage is increasing. Due to the recent Intifada Palestinian workers are largely unable to cross into Israel. As a result, Israel is bringing low wage workers from other nations. Many of these workers are either staying illegally or intermarrying with Israelis, further increasing the nonJewish population. Some
neighborhoods are being taken over by illegals, which is causing Jewish flight in many areas. Population issues will soon force Israel to accept the creation of a Palestinian state. Israel can swap predominantly Arab towns in exchange for Jewish settlements. This will significantly lower the nonJewish population of Israel. An end to the Intifada would also mean the return of Palestinian workers who can go back to their own country everynight, largely elimating Israel's illegal immigration problem.

Environmental - Water shortages and dealing with the area's severe water pollution will require cooperation between both sides, since they share the same water supplies.

Declining Impact of Zionism - The early Zionists were Marxists, who wanted to create a agricultural/communal Jewish state. They believed that the ideal Hebrew was a farmer and a soldier. While Marxist beliefs were never widespread in Israel (most people lived in cities and had nonfarming careers) the Marxists did manage to dominate politics and the military. The Israeli business class is now becoming more powerful politically. They have a strong incentive to end this conflict, which is seriously harming Israel's economy.

Wasserstein also points out that the few sticking points in negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians were close to being worked out in Taba, Egypt. In fact, Israeli and Palestinian delegations recently signed an unofficial peace agreement called the Geneva Accords that if real would resolve the conflict. This proves that peace is possible. Both Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat are obstacles to peace. All that's needed now are leaders who care more about their people than land.

This book is wonderful for those looking for a non-biased perspective into the conflict in Israel. It is not a history text, and does not outline the historical events. Instead, this book looks at various issues that most people don't consider when thinking about the conflict. I recommend it to readers who have a grounding in the historical aspects of the conflict but need a non-biased perspective on some modern issues such as imported labour and water contamination. Although these may sound irrelevant to the overall conflict, Wassersten shows their significance in clear and detailed writing.

If you read readers' reviews on any book concerning the Arab-Israeli conflict, you'll notice the same names blasting every book that does not come out resolutely in favor of Israel. Not surprisingly, these folks did not like this book by Bernard Wasserstein, either. That's really too bad because this author really has put together an innovative, articulate analysis based on excellent data (taken from all sorts of sources). He is not an ideologue or political pundit, but a real historian.

If you are looking to play the blame game, this is not the book for you; no side is without fault in Wasserstein's analysis. (The same is true for his other recent work, DIVIDED JERUSALEM.) Certainly, he leans more to the Avi Shlaim camp than Michael Oren's--both outstanding Israeli historians--but even if you disagree with this more critical take on Israel it is worth reading THIS book because of its original demographic focus.

I agree with another reviewer that this book is not for the Middle East novice--it is important to have a good grasp of the history of Israel and Palestine (and many related topics) before you dive into this thematic approach.

I particularly liked the optimism of the author's conclusions, which seem to defy all the naysayers--that the two sides are really not all that far apart from a negotiated settlement if in fact moderates can prevail on both sides.

I've read several books on the Israel Palestine Middle East conflict. This one describes more succintly than most: what the situation was before the major conflicts, what the current sticking points are, and possible solutions. It leaves one more hopeful for peace than many other books. I recommend it highly. Though it explains conscicely the most pertinent historical events the author does not go into great detail about them in this book. In this book I find that helpful as it quickly boils the conflict down to its most basic elements. Greater historical detail can be found in many other books on the Middle East, probably even other ones by this author, as they appear to know the most pertinent details on the subject.

Though this book is titled "Israelis and Palestinians: Why Do They Fight? Can They Stop?," the author never really answered either question to my satisfaction. Perhaps I was expecting too much from a book of only a couple of hundred pages. The book provides a cursory history of the formation of the current Israeli state but seems to assume more knowledge on the part of the general reader than is probably warranted. The author explains briefly how the current nation of Israel was formed but goes into no great detail as to why that creation has led to the problems that currently exist between the two peoples. He drops names throughout the book of various Israeli leaders and their respective political parties but does not really set forth sufficient information for the casual reader to know the political orientation of those leaders or what effect their respective positions have had upon the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. With regard to the issue of whether the two sides can stop fighting, he seems to feel that they can and that they will since they are supposedly not that far apart in their negotiating positions and since neither side can really exist forever in the absence of some sort of final settlement. One reason is that neither side can unilaterally control the supply of water. Another is that whatever disparities might exist with regard to the relative populations will change in the near future due to the higher birth rates of the Palestinians. Finally, he believes that the Israelis realize that they must eventually withdraw from many of the settlements in the occupied regions and that they realize that they cannot continue to exercise control over areas in which the Palestinians are in the majority. He makes no prediction as to when this ulimate settlement will occur or whether it can occur without the assistance of outside brokers, only that it should occur. Perhaps he should tell that to the parties in question.

I looked hard for something in this book that I could praise. I didn't find anything.

Now, someone could say that the Jews in Israel are outnumbered by folks who want to remove their rights, steal their land, and kill them. And whether this is true or false, they could then make some recommendations to both sides. They could tell the Jews to flee, to sell their land, to find new allies, to get old allies to help, to fight, to convert, to roll over and die, to ally themselves with their enemies, or whatever. And they could tell the Arabs that Israel is a small country with few resources, and that smashing it is a big crime.

This book does nothing of the sort. Instead, it seems to make the absurd and false point that Israel is by nature unable to exist honestly, and ought to give away its excess land!

Now, let's reason together. I think the Arabs who are attacking Israel are not a nation. For the sake of argument, let us say that I am right or wrong. We will look at both cases. Let us imagine that there is to be peace, and let us see what happens to poor little Israel if peace and justice should prevail.

Well, if the Arabs of the region are not really a nation, they may have plenty of kids. But when Jews and Arabs buy and sell homes in the region, Jews will be willing to pay far more than Arabs. No matter how many kids the Arabs have, the Jews will win the demographic battle. Even if there are hundreds of millions of Arabs, they will simply buy elsewhere, and the Jews will remain a majority in Israel. After all, there are already over five million Jews in Israel. There are even more in the Diaspora, many of whom may regard Israel as more attractive than ever if there is peace there. And Jews have at least as much money per capita as the average. They'll easily buy up much of the ten thousand square miles in the region. Maybe more.

So there is no demographic reason for the Jews to give up trying to live in Asia. Perhaps there is a military reason.

Oh, but wait! What if I am wrong? What if the "whole world" is right? What if there really is a special Arab people, millions strong, who simply must live in Israel, and nowhere else? And what if God Herself has so decreed it?

First, if that is the case, Israel will get pretty crowded. I wonder if there will be enough water? Luckily, the Jews of Israel have increased water productivity in that nation to a rather high level. So maybe there will be enough water. But I can't guarantee that life will be inexpensive there.

Now, let's look at the way homes will be sold if the special Arabs really will pay more than the Jews. The Jews will indeed get bought out from Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Eilat, and the rest of Israel. But only if they get a huge amount of money, and only if they can be sure that this money is genuine and can be used to buy houses elsewhere. They will try to use that money to buy homes from Arabs elsewhere in Israel, but now they'll be outbid for these homes. Therefore, the Jews will simply buy all of Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria with the money. That sounds like a fair trade, don't you think?

My point is simple. There is no "demographic problem" that restricts the size of Israel to less than 9000 square miles. Arabs can not shame or cajole five million or more Jews into vanishing. Getting rid of Israeli Jewish rights (or getting rid of the Israeli Jews) requires violence. If there is a problem for the Jews, it is Arab violence.

So Wasserstein is wrong.

He asks how many Jews lived in Israel 100 years ago. And we ought to know the answer. But it is irrelevant to his argument and to mine. He says that Arabs are having more kids. But unless they are happy to live in Israel and able to afford it, that's also irrelevant to his argument and to mine. He asks if the region was really partitioned after World War One (prior to a huge percentage of the world's Jews being killed in World War Two). Um, that is really irrelevant now.

As I see it, this book simply asks how much land we ought to steal from the land-poor Asian Jews. And it comes up with a wrong answer. See if you can guess the right answer!

Why do they fight? It's quite simple.

It is a fight between one who wishes to exist (Israel) and those who seek to destroy it (Arab and Islamic world). Nothing more, nothing less.