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?
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.
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.