Myths and Facts: A Guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict [Paperback]

Mitchell G. Bard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 13, 2006

"Too many people are unfamiliar with the basic history of the conflict or simply don't have concise, fact-based replies to falsehoods propagated about Middle East issues," say author Dr. Mitchell Bard, one of the country's leading experts on U.S. Middle East policy. "This book offers documented historical facts about all aspects of the Arab-Israeli conflict and has been updated to include the latest information about Israel's security fence, disengagment from Gaza, the road map and more.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a bright, well-designed, succinctly phrased book....This new, revised, enlarged, updated, and inexpensive edition...is filled with concise historical research..." -- International Jerusalem Post, October 26, 2001

"The best way to fight myths are with facts. All the facts you'll need are in this book." -- Near East Report, November 5, 2001

"The discussions are concise yet thoroughly canvassed." -- Canadian Jewish News, October 25, 2001

"The footnoted book contains more than 100 pages of historic documents and maps, making it more useful than ever...." -- Washington Jewish Week, November 22, 2001 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Author

"Too many people are unfamiliar with the basic history of the conflict or simply don't have concise, fact-based replies to falsehoods propagated about Middle East issues," say author Dr. Mitchell Bard, one of the country's leading experts on U.S. Middle East policy. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE); 3 edition (March 13, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0971294542
• ISBN-13: 978-0971294547
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #932,530 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mitchell Bard is the Executive Director of the nonprofit AMERICAN-ISRAELI
COOPERATIVE ENTERPRISE (AICE) and one of the leading authorities on U.S.-
Middle East policy. Dr. Bard is also the director of the
Jewish Virtual Library (www.JewishVirtualLibrary.org), the world's most
comprehensive online encyclopedia of Jewish history and culture.

Dr. Bard has appeared on the BBC, Fox News, al-Jazeera, NBC, CBC, the
Jenny Jones Show and other local and national television and radio
outlets. His work has been published in academic journals, magazines and
major newspapers. He has written and edited 22 books. His newest
book is Israel Matters: Understand the Past - Look to the Future. He has also
written:

The Arab Lobby: The Invisible Alliance that Undermines America's Interests in the Middle East
Israel Studies: An Anthology (coeditor with David Nachmias)
Will Israel Survive?
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Middle East Conflict (4th edition)
48 Hours of Kristallnacht
The Founding of Israel
The Complete Idiot's Guide to World War II
Myths And Facts: A Guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict
1001 Facts Everyone Should Know About Israel
Forgotten Victims: The Abandonment of Americans in Hitler's Camps
The Holocaust (Turning Points in World History)
The Nuremberg Trials (At Issue in History)
The Nuremberg Trials (Eyewitness to History)
From Tragedy to Triumph: The Politics Behind the Rescue of Ethiopian Jews
The Complete History of the Holocaust
The Water's Edge And Beyond: Defining the Limits to Domestic Influence on U.S. Middle East Policy
Partners for Change: How U.S.-Israel Cooperation Can Benefit America
U.S.-Israel Relations: Looking to the Year 2000
Building Bridges: Lessons For America From Novel Israeli Approaches To Promote Coexistence
On One Foot: A Middle East Guide for the Perplexed or How to Respond on Your Way to Class When Your Best Friend Joins an Anti-Israel Protest
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding the Brain

Bard holds a Ph.D. in political science from UCLA and a master's degree in public policy from
Berkeley. He received his B.A. in economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

220 of 270 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Complete and current December 10, 2001

By Alyssa A. Lappen TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This 461-page book is set up in 25 chapters that break the Arab-Israel conflict into bite-sized easily digestible pieces, loaded with facts.

...It runs right through the current low-grade war against Israel, which Yasser Arafat planned even as he and other top-level negotiators met with Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak at Camp David in July 2000.

The volume throughout makes statements that are almost universally regarded as fact, and then proceeds to rebut them with data and history. (...)

You may hear various complaints that is a one-sided pro-Israel account. It is unquestionably pro-Israel, but not one-sided. Take the 40-page chapter on refugees, one of the highlights of this superb volume. Its 80 footnotes run for almost three pages--and 25 Arab sources include nine original Arab newspaper articles, several Arab authors and studies by Bir Zeit University.

The refugee chapter begins with the myth that one million Palestinians were expelled form Israel in 1947 through 1949, and then counters that myth with evidence including the 1949 Armistice agreement and United Nations reports of the day. In fact, the Arab census of 1945 found 1.2 million Arabs in all of Palestine, but only 809,100 within the boundaries of what became Israel. A 1949 Israeli census found 160,000 Arabs inside Israel, which meant that no more than 650,000 Palestinian Arabs could have become refugees. But the United Nations Mediator on Palestine at that time put the figure at only 472,000. Much similar material fills this rich reference.

The volume's sourcing is impeccable; All those books sited that I own, I can report first hand, are irreproachable pieces of scholarship.

In addition to the chapters on everything from Jewish settlements, Jerusalem and human rights in the territories to the arms balance, U.S.... Middle East policy, the peace process and Holocaust denial, you will find complete copies of many of the major documents that govern Israel and its relationship with Arab states and the PLO entity. There is also a superb two-page list for further reading, and a full index.

Altogether, this is one of the better references on the Arab-Israel conflict to emerge in recent years. It is dispassionate, accurate, complete and current. Alyssa A. Lappen Read more ›

71 of 86 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Israel Book May 10, 2002

By Morris

Format:Paperback

Dont buy this book thinking you're getting a balanced perspective. This book tells the pro-Israel side of the story, but it does so very well. The research is meticulous and accurate, the facts overwhelming. It is not propagandish, and not hateful, rather very factual. You will be hard pressed to find a book this good representing the Arab perspective, namely one that is not hateful or filled with propaganda.

Maybe you strongly support or strongly condemn Israel, or maybe you know nothing about the Middle East, but either way if you want to know why supporters of Israel feel so strongly about what they fight for, read this book. There is so much negative PR surrounding Israel in the media, and this book will put it in perspective, and let you know why the region has fallen into its current state of affairs.

Bottom line: Even though it's not balanced, and doesnt try to be, it's still incredibly enlightening.

37 of 46 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Quick Read! May 13, 2002

By Lifelong Reader

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Bard has done an excellent job coallating the information out there regarding the Middle East/ Israel conflict. He makes extensive use of quotes from historical documents and persons.
His organization of the text around common uninformed questions and statements that are often heard in contemporary American society is very helpful.

The text of this book can be found online, but the website tends to be slow. That makes this book necessary if you want a quick reference.

I recommend getting this book as a great starter into the whole issue. It will point you onward to many other more exhaustive resources if you take time to meander through the extensive footnotes. I also highly recommend his "Complete Idiot's Guide to the Middle East" for it's slightly more in depth treatment of the issue and entertaining presentment.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Riveting History June 15, 2005

By Greenstone

Format:Paperback

"Israel's Roots, The Arab-Israeli Wars, The United Nations, U.S. Middle East Policy and The Peace Process," are just a few of the aspects listed on the back cover of this volume of ingenious presentation that delves into hundreds of articles and facts overshadowed by the myths in Israel's Davidic Stand against the doomed neo-Goliath of modern times.

Delineating the details that destroy hundreds of political, historical and religious fables concocted, some centuries old, applied to this conflict of the past six decades, 'Myths and Facts' serves the reader a refreshing diet of documented journalism that spares none including the famous. This revelatory tour of the groundless lies cast at Israel's door, and that country's forthright continuance down the road of arbitration miles beyond reason satisfies all challenges of integrity that can be mustered.

What frames this work as riveting history is simply a compendium of continually updated material available online through the Jewish Virtual Library. These facts sharpen in their credence as the struggle to capture peace continues elusively beyond the pale.

Helpful documents made available in the Appendices include treaties, memoranda and even declarations by palestinian groups such as Hamas. Unfettered by media shackles, this effort gives rise to hope in the most forlorn. Truth shall indeed out.

And Lord Acton's words inscribed in Mitchell Bard's preface, "Truth is the only merit that gives dignity and worth to history," echo yet louder with Bard's inscription date, September 2001.

In truth's interest,

TL Farley,

author,
When Now Becomes Too Late - The imminent Rapture. {I Thess. 4:14}