jewish

Joan Peters has dealt with a topic that many would prefer to ignore...namely "truth". Lies , when told time and time again, appear to be true; but they only APPEAR to be true. Deep down, beneath all the rhetoric, truth can be found if one really searches for it. Ms Peters has done just that. She has dug deep to discover the truth concerning the major issues in the Arab - Israel conflict. Ironically, she set out to bring the Israelis to justice "for their dispicable treatment of the Palestinian refugees" and discovered /learned that this was nothing more than a major "smokescreen" hiding a much greater issue. Her documentation is thorough and one can only wonder why the information, the facts, that she, and so many others have uncovered, are not in circulation in today's political spectrum. Could it be that the world does not want to know the truth? If you are looking for facts, regarding the Arab - Israel conflict, this is the best book out there. However, it may have an adverse effect upon you. You just might find yourself becoming very upset while watching the evening news' coverage of what is taking place in Israel. The media bias is obvious.

I think that critics have pointed out some serious flaws in Peters' research. However, they have not debunked what I believe is the crucial thesis, that Palestinian national identity is a product of Zionism, that before the Zionists came the Palestinians were simply South Syrians and whatnot. Indeed, I find it ironic that the most vociferous critics of Peters on Amazon consistently refer to the Arab population of "Palestine" throughout the ages, though of course there was no such administrative entity during Ottoman rule, and prior rulers. The book is useful, then, in large part for anti-Zionists who claim that Jewish national identity is a myth, and that the land of Israel is really "Palestinian." All national identities are myths, because we are all simply individual. But if one insists on comparing the longevity, coherence, etc. of Jewish national identity with Palestinian identity, surely Jewish national identity is longer-standing and based more on the cohesiveness of the people involved. Indeed, Palestinian identity has not existed where Zionism is not an issue, it exists only in opposition to Zionism. Jordan controlled the West Bank, "Palestinian" land for 18 years. Where were the cries for a Palestinian state there? For that matter, the rest of Jordan was also part of the British mandate for Palestine. But the Palestinians less want a homeland than they want to drive the Jews out. All that said, there's a limit to how useful all the arguments are for current political purposes. No matter how tenuous historically Palestinian national identity is, it is real, and must be dealt with as such; if only it could have an independent basis, rather than being based on hatred of Zionism. The lack of this independent basis is no doubt why Arafat turned down his opportunity to have a state on 90+ percent of the territories in 2000.

It's so disheartening to see so many five-star reviews, but certainly understandable. This book was lauded in the American press as a major historical event and a beacon of excellent scholarship, and on first glance, Peters appears to write forcefully and convincingly. The point is, almost nothing she says is true. This book was just torn apart in the British press, where it was first assigned to a man who is arguably the most knowledgeable person in the world on Middle East affairs, Albert Hourani of Oxford University. He derided it as a laughable hoax, and the rest of the British press joined in. In the Israeli press, even in the far-right Zionist press, this bookl was condemned because it was so blatantly untrue that it would make Zionism look bad. Yet still, the American intellectual community maintained its silence! I mean, this is book that argues the Palestinians hardly even existed! I would urge everyone who liked this book to read Hourani's review and read a paper by a courageous grad. student named Norman Finkelstein who debunked the myths put forward by Ms. Peters. His essay can be found in the volume entitled "Blaming the Victims" edited by Edward Said and Christopher Hitchens.