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Unlocking the Middle East: The Writings of Richard Falk
 
 
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Unlocking the Middle East: The Writings of Richard Falk [Paperback]

Richard A. Falk (Author), Jean Allain (Author, Editor)
3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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Book Description

May 2002
The Middle East, broadly defined, has long been a nodal point of US foreign policy. In a seemingly constant state of upheaval, the region lurches from crisis to crisis. The few things that tie the region together is an across-the-board lack of democracy; enormous gaps between wealth and poverty; vast disparities between the tiny oil-bloated emirates and the massive, restless populations of Egypt and other resource-deprived states; and the growing poverty-, repression-, and occupation-fueled Islamist-oriented movements reflecting spiraling discontent throughout the region.

Unlocking the Middle East brings together over three decades of work by Richard Falk, a leading observer of the region and analyst/critic of US policy toward it. Beginning with 1969 Lebanon, then giving a close and critical examination of the Iranian revolution of 1979, and moving through the final decades of the twentieth century to the second Palestinian uprising that opened the twenty-first century, Falk's prescient and comprehensive assessments provide valuable insight to the region's spiraling discontent.

The book includes sections on the geopolitics of the region and US policy toward it, Islam in history and in newer political forms, the international law implications of the Lebanon war, and the Iranian revolution. Through it all, runs the stream of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The book also includes the 2001 report of the United Nations Human Rights Inquiry Commission, appointed by the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights, of which Falk was a leading member.


Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Richard Falk is the Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law and Practice at Princeton University. His most recent book is The Great Terror War.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 305 pages
  • Publisher: Olive Branch Pr (May 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1566564611
  • ISBN-13: 978-1566564618
  • Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 15.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,051,254 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Average Customer Review
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars excellent views on the middle east, September 9, 2005
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This review is from: Unlocking the Middle East: The Writings of Richard Falk (Paperback)
This book covers a great many subjects in the middle east from Lebannon to Israel to Iran. Much insight is provided for those who are willing to listen.

Falk stands up for the rights of Palestinians. He wastes no time on humoring the Israeli extremists who deny their existance or who want to pick their leaders for them. He just puts out the basic truth of the situation. That the only road to real peace is a road that involves giving self-government and political rights to Palestinians.

There are plenty of people who deny Falk's truth. But they don't have a vision for peace. Their vision is a west bank consisting of walled urban reservations for Palestinians surrounded by Israeli settlements. Each compound will have "self-government" in the form of an israeli-appointed collaborator "mayor". The role of the Mayor will be to maintain order for the Israelis, organize the explotation of Palestinian manual labor in Israel and to assist with the confiscation of more land from Palestinians. The Palestinians will be made to pay for their own occupation in the form of punitive taxes. Its a familiar system to many as palestinians lived under this form of "peace" in the 1970s until they rose up against it in the intifada.

The other vision these people have for peace is the mass explusion of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza. They call it "transfer".

Falk lays out the truth for those listening. He shows that almost every rational person now accepts a two-state solution including the Israeli government. The fanatics who don't accept it can only slow progress but not stop it.

Finally, Falk shows that the justification for a peace based on a two-state solution is that the alternatives are unacceptable. The two alternatives are ethnic cleansing or reducing the palestinians to a permenant status where they have no political, legal or civil rights.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars balanced writing by a recognized expert, January 3, 2006
By 
s (Paris, France) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Unlocking the Middle East: The Writings of Richard Falk (Paperback)
Falk is an expert in international law and professor of global studies at UCSB - he knows what he is talking about. Take the time to hear his thoughts and gain a better understanding of the issues.

This book is full of sound analyses on the situation & history of the Middle East...despite the automatic 1-Star review that fanatics will inevitably give it.
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1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Apology for Ayatollah Khomeni and Arafat - Seeing the world upside down- morally, July 17, 2008
This review is from: Unlocking the Middle East: The Writings of Richard Falk (Paperback)
Richard Falk presents a picture of the Middle East which turns reality upside down. He is sympathetic to Khomeni who he sees as a kind of human- rights activist. He has argued in a U.N. forum that suicide bombings are a legitimate 'method of 'struggle'. He regards Arafat (one of the major architects of modern Terrorism) as a great leader. He is especially vicious in attacking Israel . Israel happens to be the one state in the Middle East that shows real concern for human life. But for Falk Israel is guilty of 'genocidal tendencies'. This is a remarkable accusation. The Arab and Islamic media are night and day calling for the destruction of Israel, for the murder of Jews whether military or civilian. Israel is a nation which continually under attack, nonetheless makes a maximum effort to minimize casualties on the other side. Falk sees it upside down.
In the opening interview of the book he talks about his family background. They were assimilated Jews who cared nothing about Jewish communal life. His father was a lawyer of renown who among other things, defended Kerensky. But his father also opposed the Jewish state. This family bias pervades all of Falk's work on the 'Middle East' in which he singles out Israel always for blame.
All of Falk's intelligence and argument in this book are used in service of the bad guys.






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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
"interim prime minister between the Czar and the Bolsheviks. I had known all these people as a kid, and became very friendly with them." Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
civilizational participation, normative adjustment, belligerent occupant, present intifada, organized international community, religious resurgence, world order system, belligerent occupation, civilizational identity, second intifada, international humanitarian law, prolonged occupation, false universalism, humane governance, geopolitical forces, international human rights standards
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Middle East, United Nations, West Bank, Security Council, Ayatollah Khomeini, Iranian Revolution, Third World, Soviet Union, Palestinian Authority, Camp David, Geneva Convention, Islamic Revolution, Professor Falk, General Assembly, Gulf War, Iraqi Kurds, Ohio State, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, World Court, Bani Sadr, Ottoman Empire, White House, Anthony Lewis
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