From Publishers Weekly
While the subject of this study is specific—"the delusional thinking that underlay Israel's attempt to achieve peace with its neighbors through the so-called Oslo process"—the author's interests and conclusions are wide-ranging. Levin, a clinical instructor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and a commentator on Israeli politics, attempts to analyze why many Israeli Jews chose to believe in the peace negotiations of the early 1990s, even when Yasser Arafat was refusing calls to publicly renounce terrorism. Levin analyzes this through both historical and psychoanalytic lenses, mapping out how people who have lived under siege are likely to internalize the hatred they encounter and become "delusional" about their own self-interest. Levin also discusses European and American anti-Semitism and its effect on Jewish identity, from the mid-19th century to 1948, with some background material on the emergence of Zionism and the British Mandate. While the word "delusional" may be too strong, Levin's psychoanalytic arguments about the "corrosive impact of... besiegement" are fascinating and generally persuasive. But once stated, their truth becomes self-evident and their explanatory application over 600 pages of Jewish and Israeli history begins to feel thin. Levin's documentation of the Arab-Israeli conflicts of the past three decades is exhaustive, but while there is mention of the U.S. response to the 9/11 attacks, Levin might have spent more time exploring how his ideas affect other countries or political situations.
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--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Review
"....Levin is concerned with a pathology that has prompted the Jews....to embrace the false promise of peace...." --
WASHINGTON TIMES, June 1, 2005"Israels Deadly Illusions" "....tells the appalling story of what has been called the greatest self-inflicted wound of political history...." --
NEW YORK POST, June 13, 2005"Ken Levin explains why so many Jews and Isrealis delude themselves about the malevolent intentions of their enemies..." --
Ruth Wisse, Martin Peretz Professor of Yiddish Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature, Harvard University"Kenneth Levin....has written a definitive, magisterial book about what went wrong during the Oslo era." --
JERUSALEM POST, June 1, 2005"That Arafat would honor what he undertook to do in the Oslo accords is but one false belief referenced ..." --
Fred Frankel, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School."The Oslo Syndrome is an indispensable contribution to understanding the roots of the Oslo process
" --
Yossi Klein Halevi, Senior Fellow, the Shalem Center, and Israel correspondent for The New Republic."This book is a major endeavor of using both psychoanalytic and historical methods to explain the Oslo phenomenon." --
JERUSALEM CENTER FOR POLICY ANALYSIS, April 15, 2005"this hugely interesting, highly informed and very timely work is a must read ..." --
Professor Efraim Karsh, Head, Mediterranean Studies
Programme
King's College, University of London.Levin's book analyzes why so many Israeli Jews saw promise..despite Yassar Arafat's public refusals to renouce terrorism. --
The Dartmouth, October 11, 2005This is the title of an important new book by Dr. Kenneth Levin, a psychiatrist and historian. --
Center for Security Policy, Decision Brief, May 2005
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.