Arab and Jew

A book well researched and written. Emotional in a lot of ways but truthful facts written by one who has been there.

Ich liebe diese Buch und lese es gerne wieder. Es einer der wenigen Bücher, das auf eine menschliche und verständnisvolle Weise erklärt, wie tief dieser Konflikt in der israelischen Gesellschaft verwurzelt ist.

I was looking for a while for a book about to understand beter Arab- Israeli issues, but it was always hard to find non partisan view. I ordered this one after reading Shipler's book about Soviet Union which I found incredibly insightful. This one is great too. First of all, it provides non biased view of the conflict, which is very rare for the US mainstream in particular. Secondly, it explores various depths and breadth of the animosity. Thirdly, its written extremely well and no wonder, Shipler was NY times correspondent over decade or more... Thoroughly recommend...

This was an outstanding book. Over 500 pages packed full of information and insight. The book goes in depth on the problems in Israel and the Middle East. Not just the problems that we hear about on TV. But the people problems. The author goes to the deep underlying problems. The people and their customes and beliefs. Covering the stereo types, the religious differences, their histories. The book interviews people about their fears. The author talks to both Arabs and Jews. He talks to Christians, Muslims and Jews. He reviews incidents of terrorism on all sides of the conflict.This is a must read book if you are interested in understanding the problems of the Middle East. Although it is full of information it is not hard to read. It goes a long way at explaining things. We all know that the problems in the Middle East are not easy to solve but this book showed me how truly deep the problems run. The prejudices from all sides are astounding.This is an outstanding piece of writing and research! Read it and enjoy.

This book is a noble dissection of the Arab-Israeli conflicts, mostly up through 1987 with new annotations of current events. Shipler lets the people of Palestine do the talking here; we are privy to countless conversations of crimes, prejudices, and judgments between the two warring peoples. This is the key to the book's success, as through the myriad of voices we get a true picture of the devastation that a news story or textbook cannot convey with such immediacy. Also of note is the thin ray of light throughout the latter portion of the book, where Shipler shares stories of both groups coming together, seemingly clandestinely, in order to learn more about the other and their feelings about the conflict. Peaceful relations are snuffed out almost as soon as they begin, but the effort is what counts here. The juxtaposition between the good and the bad sets this book apart; unfortunately it could have been more impactful if the book was more well-edited. The one weakness of Arab and Jew is that after awhile it becomes different variations on a theme, with endless stories that resemble others told countless times before it. It is important for each voice to be heard of course, but its length seemed to me to rob the book of a bit of its urgency, and it was in all honesty a bit tough to finish. Still, worthy reading for anyone interested in learning more about the people of Palestine.