Review (PDF) Righteous Victims: A History Of The Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-2001
At a time when the Middle East has come closer to achieving peace than ever before, eminent Israeli historian Benny Morris explodes the myths cherished by both sides to present an epic history of Zionist-Arab relations over the past 120 years. Tracing the roots of political Zionism back to the pogroms of Russia and the Dreyfus Affair, Morris describes the gradual influx of Jewish settlers into Palestine and the impact they had on the Arab population. Following the Holocaust, the first Arab-Israeli war of 1948 resulted in the establishment of the State of Israel, but it also shattered Palestinian Arab society and gave rise to a massive refugee problem. Morris offers distinctive accounts of each of the subsequent Israeli-Arab wars and details the sporadic peace efforts in between, culminating in the peace process initiated by the Rabin Government. In a new afterword to the Vintage edition, he examines Ehud Barak’s leadership, the death of President Assad of Syria, and Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon, and the recent renewed conflict with the Palestinians. Studded with illuminating portraits of the major protagonists, Righteous Victims provides an authoritative record of the middle east and its continuing struggle toward peace.
Paperback: 800 pages
Publisher: Vintage; 1 Reprint edition (August 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0679744754
ISBN-13: 978-0679744757
Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 1.6 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (69 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #141,879 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #99 in Books > Textbooks > Humanities > History > Middle East #159 in Books > History > Middle East > Israel & Palestine #276 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > International & World Politics > Middle Eastern
For me, Righteous Victims was an introduction to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I had relatively little background to the conflict, and so I feel like I am able to evaluate the book somewhat objectively without reading through the lens of a prior bias in favor of either side. That said, I think Morris does a superb job in objectively recording the roots of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, and I highly recommend this book to anyone seeking to gain extensive knowledge about the roots of this tragic situation.Naturally, one can find instances in this book that suggest either an Arab or an Israeli bias... There are rare instances within the text suggest a hint of bias one way or the other. But on the whole Morris gives a balanced history that is not tainted with extreme and devaluing bias. Unbiased writing on this subject seems to be a rarity, and Morris succeeds in that respect.My main objection to Righteous Victims is that Morris relies primarily on sources from the Zionist perspective. As a result, Righteous Victims goes into much clearer detail about the Zionist side of the struggle, while leaving some parts of the Arab point of view somewhat vague. While predominantly using sources written by Zionists, about Zionists, from the Zionist perspective runs the risk of creating an unfair and unbalanced work, I don't blame Morris. In the introduction, he explains (rightly so) that there simply is not many sources from the Arab point of view open to researchers. Morris did as well as anyone could with the available resources, and one should not be highly critical of his sources, because it is unavoidable to use mostly Zionist sources.I will not... make arguments for either the Israelis or the Palestinians. That is not the point of a book review.
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