Customer Reviews

Scars of War, Wounds of Peace: The Israeli-Arab Tragedy

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I'd been wanting to find an informed, intelligent, even-handed history of the Israeli-Arab conflict, and I have.

This book is brilliant. Ben-Ami approaches the complexities and contradictions of the Middle East relationships with a fair, open mind and the insight that comes from both his educational background and his unique perspective as a peace negotiator. We find a history of a region that is, in a word, exasperating, and yet hope does not fall to despair. It is telling that while Ben-Ami shows great empathy for both the Jewish and Arab populace, he keeps a savvy eye on the sometimes self-serving motivations of their leaders.

Sadly, those who have already chosen sides and shut their minds will probably be able to cherrypick segments to bolster their own views, but they'll learn nothing. But for those readers who wish to attempt to grasp the area's passions and fears, on all sides, this is the book to read.

This book is the product of Shlomo Ben-Ami's life time of studying the Arab-Israeli conflict both as an historian and a diplomat. The result is truly a masterpiece, perhaps the best single volume on a conflict that has produced a library full of books. This volume holds nothing back and is rigorous in its analysis of all the players in the tragedy of the conflict. No side is spared a critical review. Perhaps the best chapter is on the Camp David summit in 2000 and why it failed. Here the reader benefits from the insights of one of the key negotiators as Shlomo Ben-Ami served as Israel's Foreign Minister during the talks. His analysis of the Israeli, Palestinian and American players at the summit and in the talks that followed until the election of Prime Minister Sharon in 2001 is probably the best available to date.

This is not yet another book by starry-eyed leftist historian deploring the negative aspects of Zionism and the follies committed in its name in the last hundred years. Shlomo Ben-Ami is a solid historian and former foreign minister of Israel. He worked directly in the recent failed attempts under the Clinton Administration's umbrella to achieve a Palestinian-Israeli settlement. He is no self-hating Israeli and certainly no right-wing fanatic.

The Israeli state was founded, and the Jewish settlements in Palestine in the previous three quarters of a century, by a subtle combination of violence, hard work, idealism and diplomacy. The Jews of Europe indeed had no choice but to use every and any method available to save a remnant in Palestine. And they did so. Their achievement was amazing and it did create a new Jew, the Israeli, free from diapora paranoia and isolation. Whatever methods they used can be justified -- even the most atrocious -- as the choice between living and dying. But once established Israel came to rely on military power alone. It rightly feared and mistrusted the Palestinian Arabs but it never really tried to understand their positions, which were in many cases the mirror images of those of the Zionists.

Both the Palestinians and the Israelis have allowed themselves to be led by leaders who can only resort to war and who will never try anything more than cosmetic to find peace. Palestinian leaders like Arafat never really tried to reign in terrorism, and Israeli leaders have never really given up the use of settlements to impose their own borders on the Palestinians.

In America we are conditioned to see the Israelis as flexible and the Palestinians and Arabs as rigid, but no Israeli politician showed the flexibility and wisdom of Anwar Sadat who challenged the Israelis with a real peace initiative that the right-wing extemist, Menachem Begin, felt forced to accept. People like Golda Meir, a heroine for Americans, was a rigid, disastrous leader who abandoned Ben-Gurion's relative flexibility for a diasporic mentality of paranoia and fear. aShe was folowed by even worse leaders: Shamir and Netanyahu.

Ben-Ami has no real solutions except that both sides have to make real concessions: the Palestinians have to control terroristic violence and accept Israel as a permanent neighbor. Their obsession with the past makes this difficult. The Israelis have to abandon settlements in the West Bank, but their new-found paranoia makes them less the New Jew than the Old Jew of Europe, suspicious and inward-looking, hostile and aggressive.

This book is difficult to read because of its detail and the unfamiliarity among Americans with the intracacies of Israeli wars, politics, and peace initiatives. But it contains all that a thoughtful and conscientious reader needs.

At this writing there is little likelihood that Israeli policy will prove to be wise or that the Palestinian surrender to Hamas will be beneficial. And the Bush Administration's capitulation to the worst elements in Israel, the rightists, and to the worst elements in America, the neo-conservative supporters of Israeli rightists and the Christian evangelicals does not promise any progress. Nor does, as Ben-Ami shows, the war in Iraq, which provides Israel with a temporary advantage and a long-term threat: the unification of the Arab world against Israel and the West. Sadat effectively changed the battle from one of Arabs vs. Jews to one of Palestinians vs. Israelis. Bush is changing it all back again to Muslims vs. Crusaders and their Zionist puppies.

As a professor of Middle Eastern history and politics and of the Arab-Israeli conflict I recommend Shlomo Ben-Ami's book Scars of War, Wounds of Peace. I have taught Arab-Israeli conflict at Drury University for over three years and Ben-Ami's book is one of the required texts that students use. Shlomo Ben-Ami captures the Palestinian, Israeli, and American perspectives concerning this conflict. This is a very objective and reasonable interpretation of the Arab-Israeli conflict. I recommend this book to any student of Near East studies or Middle Eastern studies.

Professor Peter Tsahiridis
History/Political Science
Drury University
ptsahiridis@drury.edu

Dr. Shlomo Ben-Ami is an Oxford trained historian who served as acting Foreign Minister under Ehud Barak after David Levy resigned from the position in August 2000. He was a principle negotiator in the Camp David accords and later at Taba. These historical notes illustrate that Ben-Ami has both historical training and first hand experience in the Israel-Palestine conflict. However, he himself notes that his book should not be taken as a scholarly account of history, and directs the reader to scholars such as Benny Morris and Avi Shlaim. I, personally, believe Ben-Ami to be a sound voice of reason from the Israeli side of the conflict, and recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn about the conflict.

One final note: I would direct anyone who has read this book, or is interested in reading this book, to a debate between Dr. Shlomo Ben-Ami and Dr. Norman Finkelstein. The debate was broadcast on 'Democracy Now!' after the release on Dr. Ben-Ami's book. The debate allows the listener to hear a discussion of topics presented in his text. It is civil and objective. I have linked Part 1 of the debate below. Enjoy!


Part 1 - Debate between Dr. Shlomo Ben-Ami and Dr. Norman Finkelstein.
[...]

Since its inception the state of Israel has fought a number of wars of choice (the only exception was the Yom Kippur War of 1973). To be sure, these have been presented to the world as wars of necessity or self-defence; but Israel's statesmen and generals have never been under any such illusion. Whether this approach has done Israel much good is debatable (for a clear-headed recent account that describes as a resounding failure his country's strategy of using wars of choice to `redraw' the map of its neighbourhood, see Scars of War, Wounds of Peace: The Israeli-Arab Tragedy by Shlomo Ben-Ami, a historian and former Israeli foreign minister).

Title: Scars of War, Wounds of Peace: The Israeli-Arab Tragedy by Shlomo Ben-Ami

Pages: 332.

Time spent on the "to read" shelf: It has been on and off for a long time. Around 3 years.

Days spent reading it: Close to 3 years from start to finish.

Why I read it: I read a review about this book in Books and Culture. I was interested to find out more about the Arab-Israeli conflict, and thought this might be a good place to start. It was and wasn't.

Brief review: It is very clear from the start the Shlomo Ben-Ami has done his research. This book is a political history of the Arab-Israeli conflict from about the 1930s through today. The greatest strength of this book is Ben-Ami's knowledge of the people, events, and processes that have been involved in the conflict. The weakness is that he is too knowledgeable and does not consider that lowly readers like myself might not even have a basic understanding of some of the major events that have taken place in the last 50 or 60 years.

I found the first part of this book, dealing with Israel's establishment as a nation in 1948 the most interesting part of the book. I have a clearer picture of some of the major players. I'm sorry to say I did not know who Ben-Gurion was before I read this book (and if you don't either, go read this wikipedia article about him). I am pathetic in my understanding of Palestine and Israel. I still am, but at least now I'm a little less pathetic.

Scars of War, Wounds of Peace traces the different political processes (and occasionally delves into the military history, but mostly in how it pertains to the political history) that have transpired since Israel became a nation in 1948. It is a fascinating and sad tale between Israel and Palestine, and the author points out where the blame for failed peace has rested at both parties feet many times over. Obviously this is a very convoluted and complex situation that is charged with extreme emotions from all parties involved. After reading this book, one wonders if real peace in this region is ever going to be truly possible and what that solution might look like. Ben-Ami makes some suggestions (and has hope), but I'm not really convinced by his compromise. Add to this the clear theological considerations of peace in this area (both Jewish, Christian, and Muslim) and you can understand why this issue of peace in Israel is such a hot topic.

I wish I could tell you my own views on some of the subjects presented in this book, but really I am not sure where I stand even after reading it. I think the elusive peace that all parties search for is possible, but it might be only after Jesus comes back, and I don't know what that means for the current residents!

I found this book enlightening, but very difficult to read. I felt like I need to be splashing around in the baby pool, and I was thrown into the deep end. Ben-Ami's command of the history is obvious, but his ability to make it readable for the masses is more questionable. I could only handle about 15 pages at a time. And that took me over an hour each time. But it certainly made for some thought provoking reading in the long term.

Favorite quote: In reference to the 1967 war-- "Israel was wrong to assume that she could acquire new lands and have peace at the same time. But the Arabs had an illusion of their own: to get back their territories without offering peace in return."

Stars: 3 out of 5.

Final Word: Challenging.

This is an audacious book that tackles a host of hot issues. It might be seen less as an account of the "Israeli-Arab Tragedy" and more of a critical look at Israel's history its forays into the region and the world. Ben-Ami provides a critical, clear, and straightforward appraisal of Zionism, Israel's conflicts, and the leaders who have made the nation what it is today. At the same time, he also keeps the reader well informed of what was going on with other players, like the Egyptians, the Jordanians, the Palestinians, and the Syrians. This is a masterpiece that paints a troubled history with fantastic style. He is really a story-teller. Anyone seeking to understand how the situation in the Middle East has gotten to where it is should not miss this book.

THIS IS AN EXTREMELY WELL-DONE BOOK, VERY WELL GROUNDED IN THE HISTORY OF ZIONISM AND ISRAEL. BEN-AMI COMES TO GRIPS WITH THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF BOTH THE JEWISH AND ARAB COMMUNITIES, THEIR MYOPIA AND FATAL FLAWS. IT IS VERY REALISTIC ON THE NATURE OF ISRAEL--ITS MESSIANISM, HYSTERIA, AND MILITARISM--AND THE VENAL CHARACTER OF ARAFAT AND THE P L O. THIS IS THE BEST BOOK ON THIS ISSUE I HAVE READ, AND I HAVE SEEN ISRAEL THOROUGHLY. IT IS VERY OBJECTIVE...AND VERY PESSIMISTIC.

It always interests me when a non-Israeli criticizes an Israeli (a former government official, at that!) for acknowledging the mistakes Israel has made. If one looks at other books on the conflict, you will see the previous reviewer doing what she does here: placing the Israelis on a pedastal while hating on the Arabs. As a Jew, I would love to think that we only do good but the reality is a bit more complicated.

This book is honest and hopeful. Please read it.