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The Gun and the Olive Branch: The Roots of Violence in the Middle East (Nation Books)
 
 

The Gun and the Olive Branch: The Roots of Violence in the Middle East (Nation Books) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "THIS IS THE THIRD EDITION of a book that was first published, in the United States and Britain, in 1977, on the eve of that..." (more)
Key Phrases: metropolitan sponsor, popular liberation war, dominant orthodoxy, Middle East, West Bank, United States (more...)
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

This is more about the gun than the olive branch, perhaps because the latter is a stunted foliage in the Middle East. For almost a hundred years Arab nationalists and Zionists have struggled over the same piece of territory, Palestine. David Hirst, Middle East correspondent for the Manchester Guardian, records the highlights of this dispute, about which he does not attempt to be neutral: in coming down on the side of the Arabs, he redresses the balance in the literature which is generally recognized as pro-Zionist. For Hirst, the Zionist program in Palestine, the establishment of Israel, and its subsequent expansion constitute the roots of violence between Arabs and Jews. He redresses his own editorial imbalance by fairly and accurately reporting violent episodes - from Arab massacres of Jews at Jaffa in 1921 and Hebron in 1929, to Arab terrorism in Munich, Qiryat Shmona, and Ma'alot in the early 1970s. As unsparingly, he scrutinizes Jewish massacres of Arabs and Jewish terrorism in the 1940s, as well as the state terrorism of Israel against Arabs inside and outside its expanded borders. Predictably, such violence is romanticized in both camps as heroic and necessary, either for Arab liberation or for Jewish security. By describing its effects on innocent victims, Hirst strips off its political mask and exposes its human horror and grotesqueness. While he fails to appreciate the complex causes involved (and ignores other Middle-East bloodshed altogether), he has nevertheless brought together in a short, brisk, responsible narrative the major acts of Arab-Jewish violence since the 1880s. (Kirkus Reviews) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


Product Description

More than a decade before Israel's New Historians revolutionized the study of Israeli history, English journalist David Hirst wrote The Gun and the Olive Branch, a classic, myth-breaking general history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hirst, former Middle East correspondent of the Guardian, traces the origins of the terrible conflict back to the 1880s to show how Arab violence, although often cruel and fanatical, is a response to the challenge of repeated aggression. The Gun and the Olive Branch is an absorbing, potentially controversial, history of the Middle Eastern conflict that is indispensable to anyone with an interest in world politics and by partisans of both sides. This classic and controversial account of the origins of the Middle East conflict returns to print updated with a lengthy introduction that reflects on the course of recent Middle Eastern history-especially the abortive Israeli-Palestinian peace process and 9/11.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 400 pages
  • Publisher: Nation Books; 3rd edition (March 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1560254831
  • ISBN-13: 978-1560254836
  • Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #376,136 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

More About the Author

David Hirst
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
THIS IS THE THIRD EDITION of a book that was first published, in the United States and Britain, in 1977, on the eve of that historic breakthrough in Middle east peace-making, the pilgrimage which President Anwar Sadat of Egypt made to Jerusalem and the first-ever peace treaty between Israel and an Arab state to which it led. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
metropolitan sponsor, popular liberation war, dominant orthodoxy
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Middle East, West Bank, United States, New York, Tel Aviv, Camp David, Journal of Palestine Studies, Balfour Declaration, United Nations, Black September, Jerusalem Post, King Hussein, Gush Emunim, General Assembly, Deir Yassin, President Sadat, Wailing Wall, Jewish Agency, Menachim Begin, Moshe Dayan, South Africa, King David, Suez Canal, Washington Post, Yasser Arafat
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Customer Reviews

23 Reviews
5 star:
 (15)
4 star:
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3 star:    (0)
2 star:
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Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (23 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Honest, July 8, 2006
By Joey (Deep South, USA) - See all my reviews
It's hard to find a good book on this subject in English that's written by someone other than an Israeli, or a supporter of Israel. This book is not anti-semitic, this book is anti-propaganda. Almost every reference which shows the Israelis in a bad light is a direct quotation from an Israeli leader. This book is heavy on facts, Hirst has many reference points, he does not make things up out of thin air. If you are looking for a book that tells you how the Palestinians are such horrible "terrorists", this is not that book. He is light on his criticisms of the Arabs, who have done their share of wrong. That's not what this book is about, though. This book is about the heart of the problem in Palestine, native people being removed from their land. It also focuses on how we in the west have been deceived for decades about the problem. In short, you need this book.
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60 of 72 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Worth reading, January 13, 2004
By A Customer
I've only read the first edition, which I found in a used bookstore many years ago--I may eventually read this latest version.

Hirst is obviously on the Palestinian "side", but then I don't know how any honest person could look at the facts and not feel that a great injustice was done to them. I wouldn't read the Gun and the Olive Branch (or anyway, not the first edition) for a complete account of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and there are various other books one should read, such as Tom Segev's "One Palestine Complete", which gives an unemotional and balanced account from various perspectives--Arab, Zionist, binationalist, British. But Hirst's book is a useful antidote to the silly romanticized view of Israel's history that many people receive in the US, which is similar to the whitewashed version of early American history that used to be taught, where the settlers were the good guys and the Indians nothing but vicious primitive savages and only one side committed atrocities. People who prefer that kind of mythical history will hate Hirst's book. (And probably Segev's as well.)

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31 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The most complete History of Palestine to date, August 30, 2005
I cover the Middle East and this book continues to be my most valuable source for understanding the dynamics of the region, the real history and the issues. If you only read one book on the History of Israel and Palestine, this is the one. A British Journalist, he doesn't have an axe to grind with either the Arabs or the Israelis which is probably why both don't care for him. He tells the truth about both, unvarnished. Engaging, Hirst understands the dynamics and does his homework. The new section in the revised edition takes you up through 9/11 and the war on terror. It fills in the blanks and makes sense of the insanity. I personally have bought ten copies of this book and I give it out to people who want to know. It is that good.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and Very Well Written
As the years pass, and the Israeli 'New Historians' find their way into the mainstream, David Hirst's account becomes all the more impressive. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Roger Smith

5.0 out of 5 stars The Gun and the Olive Branch, 3rd ed.
The Gun and the Olive Branch: The Roots of Violence in the Middle East (Nation Books)
This seminal 1977 unbiased account by David Hirst of the founding of the Jewish... Read more
Published on November 10, 2007 by John T. Harding

1.0 out of 5 stars Extremely Deceptive
Let's get straight to the point. If you're looking for an accurate and objective book on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, this book is definitely not it. Read more
Published on November 6, 2007 by J. Young

5.0 out of 5 stars brutally honest and brilliant
hirst pulls no punches. he doesn't sugarcoat any of the violence, nor who started what. people in the US who want to learn about the conflict need to read the gun and the olive... Read more
Published on January 5, 2007 by the brown hornet

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant account of Zionism's impact on the Palestinians
This is a superb history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from its origins in the Zionist dreams of the 1880s to the present. Read more
Published on March 21, 2005 by William Podmore

1.0 out of 5 stars Taunts, not facts
Any resemblence between what is stated in this book and what's actually going on in the Middle East is purely coincidental. Read more
Published on August 22, 2004 by Jill Malter

1.0 out of 5 stars negative - short on facts, long on editorial + conspiracies
I want the Occupation to end, and quickly, but this book is too much even for me!

Outright distortion and mis-statement of facts abound. Read more

Published on July 19, 2004 by Andrew Nitzberg

5.0 out of 5 stars Israeli Intransigence Exposed
The Gun and the Olive Branch is one of the most outstanding and important works of non-fiction ever written. Read more
Published on June 7, 2004 by Drew Hunkins

4.0 out of 5 stars An antidote to ignorance
David Hirst has a bias, which is often evident in which events or views he will or will not emphasize in this eminently readable book. Read more
Published on May 9, 2004 by zwerver

5.0 out of 5 stars maybe the best objective portrayal on the market
David Hirst's book presents one of the most unobjective protrayals of the Arab-Israeli conflict available on the US market, which is perhaps, why this book has become a classic in... Read more
Published on April 29, 2004

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