Israeli/Palestinian Politics, Israel/Palestine - History, Jewish History, Diplomacy & International Relations, National Characteristics, Regional Studies, Middle Eastern Politics

How Israel Lost: The Four Questions

Name: How Israel Lost: The Four Questions
Author: Richard Ben Cramer
ISBN: 9780743250290

by Richard Ben Cramer

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Overview

In How Israel Lost Richard Ben Cramer analyzes the four questions that have bedeviled Israel and Palestine for almost forty years:

I. Why do we care about Israel?

II. Why don't the Palestinians have a state?

III. What is a Jewish state?

IV. Why is there no peace?

Cramer illustrates how Israel is losing her soul by maintaining her occupation of the lands conquered in the Six Day War. Israel has become a victim of that occupation no less than the Palestinians, who must have a nation of their own.

Both his observations and argument are drawn with startling clarity, informed by the fierce and fearless reporting that won him the Pulitzer Prize for Middle East coverage.

Synopsis

In How Israel Lost Richard Ben Cramer analyzes the four questions that have bedeviled Israel and Palestine for almost forty years:

I. Why do we care about Israel?

II. Why don t the Palestinians have a state?

III. What is a Jewish state?

IV. Why is there no peace?

Both his observations and argument are drawn with startling clarity, informed by the fierce and fearless reporting that won him the Pulitzer Prize for Middle East coverage.

The New York Times - Elena Lappin

Cramer's quick, anecdotal, very personal style puts an entertaining spin on an otherwise extremely painful reality. His forte is in capturing events by showing how they affect the lives of real people. Cramer is a collector of stories, which he then uses to support two theories about the Middle East: one, that the long occupation has damaged every aspect of Israeli society; and two, that no peace agreement can be reached as long as Israel does not understand and accept the Palestinian honor principle.

About the Author, Richard Ben Cramer

With personal profiles on some of history's greatest legends like his breakout book Joe DiMaggio: A Hero's Life, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Richard Ben Cramer is an expert on what makes men like DiMaggio as fascinating out of the spotlight as they are while under its glare.

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Editorials

From the Publisher

"Solid and irrefutable...Cramer's theme is the tragic predicament of the Israelis and Palestinians...funny and bitterly sad, shrewd and down-to-earth....This book is a powerful polemic that deserves to be read."

-- Amos Elon, The New York Review of Books

Elena Lappin

Publishers Weekly

If ever a book on Israel and the Palestinians was a good read, it's this introduction to the half-century-long conflict. Cramer, who won a Pulitzer in 1979 for Middle East reporting, divides his book into four parts, dealing with four questions on the model of the four questions asked by children at the Passover seder. He blends up-to-the-minute events of the Palestinian uprising with memories of his time as a Middle East correspondent in the late 1970s and early 1980s for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Cramer is great at telling an anecdote, whether about his visit as a correspondent to an Arab village where he learns about both hospitality and honor, or about a recent visit to an Israeli family that he finds instructive regarding Palestinians' inability to reconcile themselves to a Jewish presence. When it comes to prognosis, Cramer shoots straight from the hip in giving advice to both sides. He's of the "plague on both of their houses" school ("I should have told [the mother of a dead Palestinian militant] the same thing I would have told Sharon: ...you can't make a nation... based on whom you hate, or how many of them you kill"), and he's equally dismissive of Yasser Arafat and Ariel Sharon, although he seems to come down harder on the Israelis for failing to recognize the Arab world's need for honor. Many will find this a welcome personal introduction to the conflict, but those looking for a more measured tone would be better served with David Horovitz's Still Life With Bombers (Forecasts, Jan. 26). Agent, Philippa Brophy. (May 12) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

The recent assassination of Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin has made this work both timely and essential reading for those wanting a clearer understanding of the issues that face this war-torn region. Cramer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for his reporting in the Middle East, has produced a memoir combining 25 years of experiences in the Middle East with both humor and common sense. Cramer organizes his discussion into four questions: Why do we care about Israel? Why is there no Palestinian state? What is a Jewish state? Why is there no peace? His frank analysis highlights the irony of a Jewish government that refuses the Palestinians the very rights that the Jews have been denied throughout their history. He concludes that many factors (e.g., culture clash, corruption, quest for power, and fear) have caused Israel to lose sight of its original purpose: the founding of a Jewish state. With both sides relying on their role in the conflict and corruptive influences (Arafat and Sharon) working to keep the status quo for their own purposes, Cramer paints an excellent case for the Palestinian root cause-a place for "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Recommended for larger public and academic libraries.-Maria C. Bagshaw, Lake Erie Coll., Painesville, OH Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.