The Zionist-Arab Conflict

A little light reading on an exceedingly heavy topic.

In the last couple of years, I've found myself rattling off this list so often that it seemed like a good idea to commit it to some permanent format, so I could just hand people the link and be done with it.

So, what follows is a list of (English-language) books that serve as a good set of resources for anyone who is interested in calling themselves "well-read" on the subject of the assorted conflicts involving Israel in the middle east.

No warranty is expressed or implied here, except that I personally happened to find these books enlightening or interesting. This list is not meant to be exhaustive; it just covers my personal highlights.

Where possible, I have included links to where you can buy the books in question. A few of the volumes are out of print; I suggest trying (in order), EBay, Half.Com, and Bookfinder. (N.B. you should probably only use bookfinder as an absolute last resort: their quoted prices tend to be 5 to 10 times as much as I've found the same book for in local used book stores.)

• Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-2001 by Benny Morris -- An impressive attempt at what should be an impossible task: narrating the entire history of Arab/Israeli hostility from the founding of the Zionist movement in Russia up through Ehud Barak's administration. Impressive, and largely successful: Morris manages to include an astounding depth of detail for a book with a century-long breadth, and his analyses are dispassionate and level-headed. Probably the ideal starting point for those new to the subject.
• A Peace to End All Peace: the Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East by David Fromkin -- A brilliant, engaging, breathtaking book, detailing the dismemberment of the Turkish empire by the "Great" European powers at the end of World War I, and the creation from whole cloth of most of the "countries" we see there today.
• The Siege: The Saga of Israel and Zionism by Conor Cruise O'Brien -- A detailed (if somewhat romanticized) account of the founding of Israel by an Irish journalist/diplomat. Not necessarily the best guide for definitive fact-telling (written in 1975, it predates the opening of large sections of Israeli and Egyptian state records, and has not been updated), but it's an excellent introduction to how Israelis see themselves and their situation, myths and all. (Out of print - link is to half.com resellers.)
• Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East by Michael Oren -- The definitive history of the 1967 "Six Day War" between Israel, Egypt, Syria and Jordan. Based on thousands of documents newly released from both Israeli and Egyptian and Jordanian archives (but less so from Syria), this book is a treasure trove of historical information that nonetheless reads like a Robert Ludlum thriller. Essential for understanding how and why Israel came into possession of the West Bank and Gaza.
• From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas Friedman -- Friedman's first-hand account of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon by Israel and its horrific consequences. The chapter "Hama Rules", which details the obliteration of the Muslim League stronghold of Hama by Syrian dictator Hafez al-Assad, is worth the price of the book alone for what it explains and illuminates about how politics are practiced in the mideast. Friedman's style is a little overblown at times (a habit that has gotten continually worse in his New York Times columns since), but this is still first-rate eyewitness reporting.
• In the Land of Israel by Amos Oz -- Not a history, but a series of interviews with Israelis from all walks of life and all shades of political opinion, along with not a little editorializing by Israel's most important author. Guaranteed to challenge at least one (and likely many) preconceptions you have about Israel, and even well over a decade later still an excellent introduction to the country's people.
• The People of Nowhere: The Palestinian Vision of Home by Danny Rubinstein -- A small but engaging and affecting volume by an Israeli journalist, drawing from interviews with dozens of Palestinian families, some displaced during the wars of the last 50 years and some not, all talking about their personal definitions of "home" and "return." Since most Americans have absolutely no idea what is being discussed when the news reports diplomatic wrangling about Palestinian "right of return", this little book is worth its weight in gold. Unconscionably out of print, but Amazon almost always has used copies in stock.

More?

Did I not list your favorite book? Please drop me a line at israelbooks@memory.blank.org -- I'm always happy to further my education in this sphere. Just understand that this is meant to be a list of books that I have read and liked, so it's not going to show up here until I've had time to buy it, read it once or twice, and form an opinion on it.

I'd especially like pointers to scholarly works on the subject by Arab authors, written in English. (Other than Edward Said, who is already on the to-read list.)

Also, if you have a similar page of your own, I'll happily link to it. Um, if I feel like it.