• Catalog
• My Account

Israeli–Palestinian Conflict

General histories, conflict-specific analysis, US foreign policy, biographies, and memoirs related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. These titles specifically cover Israel, Palestine, and Jerusalem.

Enemies and neighbors : Arabs and Jews in Palestine and Israel, 1917-2017 by Ian Black

Enemies and Neighbors is a big, textured, and, crucially, balanced account of over 100 years of the Israel-Palestine conflict, published on the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration (the famous pledge made by the British government on Nov. 2, 1917expressing sympathy for a national Jewish home in Palestine). 2017 also marks the 50th anniversary of the Six-Day War in June 1967, during which Israel seized its current borders. Much of the existing literature on the Israel-Palestine conflict focuses onthe era post-Israeli independence (starting in 1948), has a clear bias, and/or comes at the subject from an academic angle. This is a major, engagingly written trade history covering the entire arc of the conflict up to the present, and Black has done anextraordinary job of telling it from both sides.

1967 : Israel, the war, and the year that transformed the Middle East by Tom Segev

From Israel's leading historian, a sweeping history of 1967--the war, what led up to it, what came after, and how it changed everything. Journalist Segev recounts the watershed year when six days of war reshaped the country and the entire region. Going far beyond a military account, Segev re-creates the crisis in Israel before 1967, showing how economic recession, a full grasp of the Holocaust's horrors, and the dire threats made by neighbor states combined to produce a climate of apocalypse. He depicts the country's bravado after its victory, an era of new possibilities and tragic missteps. He introduces Moshe Dayan, Golda Meir, Gamal Abdul Nasser, and Lyndon Johnson, and an epic cast of soldiers, lobbyists, refugees, and settlers. He reveals Israel's intimacy with the White House and the political rivalries that sabotaged any chance of peace. Above all, describing a series of disastrous miscalculations, he challenges the view that the war was inevitable.--From publisher description

In search of Israel : the history of an idea by Michael Brenner

The Arabs : a history by Eugene L Rogan

Book Description: In this definitive history of the modern Arab world, award-winning historian Eugene Rogan draws extensively on Arab sources and texts to place the Arab experience in its crucial historical context for the first time. Tracing five centuries of Arab history, Rogan reveals that there was an age when the Arabs set the rules for the rest of the world. Today, however, the Arab world's sense of subjection to external powers carries vast consequences for both the region and Westerners who attempt to control it. Updated with a new postscript on the revolutions of 2011, The Arabs is an invaluable, groundbreaking work of history

In pursuit of peace in Israel and Palestine by Gershon Baskin

Crossing borders across the Israeli Palestinian conflict lines, Gershon Baskin provides insights and stories highlighting efforts to bridge gaps and invent solutions to the most sensitive and difficult issues in the conflict.

Pay no heed to the rockets : life in contemporary Palestine by Marcello Di Cintio

"A look at life in contemporary Palestine through the lens of its literary culture Marcello Di Cintio first visited Palestine in 1999 and, like most outsiders, the Palestinian narrative he knew was one defined by unending struggle, a near-Sisyphean curseof stories of oppression, exile, and occupation told over and over again. In the summer of 2014, during a brief lull in the bombing from Israel's Operation Protective Edge, photos emerged of a young Gazan girl in a green dress sifting through the rubble of her destroyed home. She was looking for her books. In Pay No Heed to the Rockets, Di Cintio travels to Palestine to find the girl. Using the form of a political-literary travelogue, he explores what literature means to modern Palestinians and how Palestinians make sense of the conflict between a rich imaginative life and the daily violence of survival. Taking the long route through the West Bank, into Jerusalem, across Israel and finally into Gaza, he meets with poets, authors, librarians, and booksellers to learn about Palestine through their eyes, and through the story of their stories. Di Cintio travels through the rich cultural and literary heritage of Palestine. It's there that he uncovers a humanity, and a beauty, often unnoticed by news media. Atthe seventieth anniversary of the Arab-Israeli War, Pay No Heed to the Rockets tells a fresh story about Palestine, one that begins with art rather than war."--

Like dreamers : the story of the Israeli paratroopers who reunited Jerusalem and divided a nation by Yossi Klein Halevi

Based on extensive reporting, traces the history of Israel from the Six Day War to the present, exploring the lives of seven members of Brigade 55, a group of 1967 paratroopers who liberated Jerusalem

Israel : is it good for the Jews? by Richard M Cohen

"A very personal journey through Jewish history (and Cohen's own), and a passionate defense of Israel's legitimacy. Richard Cohen's book is part reportage, part memoir--an intimate journey through the history of Europe's Jews, culminating in the establishment of Israel. A veteran, syndicated columnist for The Washington Post, Cohen began this journey as a skeptic, wondering in a national column whether the creation of a Jewish State was "a mistake." As he recounts, he delved into his own and Jewish history and fell in love with the story of the Jews and Israel, a twice-promised land--in the Bible by God, and by the world to the remnants of Europe's Jews. This promise, he writes, was made in atonement not just for the Holocaust, but for the callous indifference that preceded World War II and followed it--and that still threatens. Cohen's account is full of stories--from the nineteenth century figures who imagined a Zionist country, including Theodore Herzl, who thought it might resemble Vienna with its cafes and music; to what happened in twentieth century Poland to his own relatives; and to stories of his American boyhood. Cohen describes his relationship with Israel as a sort of marriage: one does not always get along but one is faithful"--

The Lion's Gate : on the front lines of the Six Day War by Steven Pressfield

"We are being bullied, my father said, and the only way to handle a bully is to punch him in the face. "What would you do?" I asked. "Strike now. As soon as possible. Meet the enemy straight-up and destroy him. There is no other way." -YAEL DAYAN, daughter of Moshe Dayan, to Steven Pressfield June 5, 1967. The nineteen-year-old state of Israel is surrounded by enemies who want nothing less than her utter extinction. The Soviet-equipped Egyptian Army has massed a thousand tanks on the nation's southern border. Syrian heavy guns are shelling her from the north. To the East, Jordan and Iraq are moving mechanized brigades and fighter squadrons into position to attack. Egypt's President Nasser has declared that the Arab force's objective is "the destructionof Israel." The rest of the world turns a blind eye to the new nation's desperate peril. June 10, 1967. The Arab armies have been routed, ground divisions wiped out, air forces totally destroyed. Israel's citizen-soldiers have seized the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, the Golan Heights from Syria, East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan. The land under Israeli control has tripled. Her charismatic defense minister, Moshe Dayan, has entered the Lion's Gate of the Old City of Jerusalemto stand with the paratroopers who have liberated Judaism's holiest site-the Western Wall, part of the ruins of Solomon's temple, which has not been in Jewish hands for nineteen hundred years. It is one of the most unlikely and astonishing military victories in history. Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews with veterans of the war-fighter and helicopter pilots, tank commanders and Recon soldiers, paratroopers, as well as women soldiers, wives, and others-bestselling author Steven Pressfield tellsthe story of the Six Day War as you've never experienced it before: in the voices of the young men and women who battled not only for their lives but for the survival of a Jewish state, and for the dreams of their ancestors. By turns inspiring, thrilling, and heartbreaking, The Lion's Gate is both a true tale of military courage under fire and a journey into the heart of what it means to fight for one's people"--

The wall and the gate : Israel, Palestine, and the legal battle for human rights by Michael Sfard

From renowned human rights lawyer Michael Sfard, an unprecedented exploration of the struggle for human rights in Israel's courts.

Hope street, Jerusalem : a memoir by Irris Makler

Fortress Israel : the inside story of the military elite who run the country and why they can't make peace by Patrick Tyler

Israel : a history by Anita Shapira

Presents a history of Israel from the origins of the Zionist movement to the present day, focusing on the issues of mass immigration, shifting cultural norms, the politics of world diplomacy, and the creation of a civil society

Israel is real by Rich Cohen

A history of the idea of Israel offers insight into the views of people behind the polemics and politics of today's Israel, exploring how Israel was transformed sixty years ago from an idea into a place that is once again subject to destruction.

The Israel test by George F Gilder

Saving Israel : how the Jewish people can win a war that may never end by Daniel Gordis

A history of Israel : from the rise of Zionism to our time by Howard Morley Sachar

The Israel-Palestine conflict : one hundred years of war by James L Gelvin

The Palestine-Israel conflict : a basic introduction by Gregory Harms

The founding of the state of Israel

The case for Israel by Alan M Dershowitz

A history of Israel by Ahron Bregman

Israel : an illustrated history by Daniel J Schroeter

Presents information on ancient Israel while focusing on the modern nation with both religious and secular history including the roles of Romans, Muslims, and Palestinians as well as Jews

Mythologies without end : the US, Israel, and the Arab-Israeli conflict, 1917-2020 by Jerome Slater

"Every nation has narratives or stories it tells itself about its history, but which typically contain factually false or misleading mythologies that often result in devastating consequences for itself and for others. In the case of Israel and its indispensable ally, the United States, the central mythology is "the Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity," as the Israeli diplomat Abba Eban famously said in a 1973 statement that has been widely quoted ever since. However, the historical truth is very nearly the converse: it is Israel and the U.S. that have repeatedly lost or deliberately dismissed many opportunities to reach fair compromise settlements of the Arab-Israeli and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts. The book reexamines the entire history of the conflict from its onset at the end of WWI through today. Part I begins with a reconsideration of Zionism and then examines the origins and early years of the Arab-Israeli state conflict. One chapter is devoted to the question of what accounts for the nearly unconditional U.S. support of Israel throughout the entire conflict. Part II focuses on war and peace in the Arab-Israeli state conflict from 1948 through today, arguing that all the major wars-in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973--could and should have been avoided. This section also includes an examination of the Cold War and its impact on the Arab-Israeli conflict. Part III covers the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from 1917 through today, and examines the prospects for a two-state or other settlement of the conflict"--

The wondering Jew : Israel and the search for Jewish identity by Micah Goodman

"Celebrated author Micah Goodman explores Israeli Judaism and the conflict between religion and secularism, one of the major causes of political polarization throughout the world. Goodman challenges both orthodoxies, proposing a middle ground to bridge the divide between religion and secularism and pave a path toward healing a society torn asunder by extremism"--Google Books

The conflict over the conflict : the Israel/Palestine campus debate by Kenneth S Stern

"The Conflict over the Conflict chronicles one of the most divisive and toxic issues on today's college and university campuses: Israel/Palestine. Some pro-Palestinian students call supporters of Israel's right to exist racist, and disrupt their events. Some pro-Israel students label pro-Palestinian students terrorists, and the Jews among them traitors. Lawsuits are filed. Legislation is proposed. Faculty members are blacklisted and receive death threats. Academic freedom is compromised and the entire academic enterprise is threatened. How did we get here and what can be done?"--

Chutzpah : why Israel is a hub of innovation and entrepreneurship by Inbal Arieli

"The secrets of Israel's status as a "startup nation," with the highest concentration of startups per capita worldwide, are revealed in this entertaining and surpising book"--

Spies of no country : secret lives at the birth of Israel by Matti Friedman

"The story of a ragtag unit known as the Arab Section, which was conceived in Palestine during World War II by British spies and Jewish militia leaders, and which eventually became the nucleus of the Mossad, Israel's vaunted intelligence agency"--

We stand divided : the rift between American Jews and Israel by Daniel Gordis

Relations between the American Jewish community and Israel are at an all-time nadir. Since Israel's founding seventy years ago, particularly as memory of the Holocaust and of Israel's early vulnerability has receded, the divide has grown only wider. Most explanations pin the blame on Israel's handling of its conflict with the Palestinians, Israel's attitude toward non-Orthodox Judaism, and Israel's dismissive attitude toward American Jews in general. In short, the cause for the rupture is not what Israel is; it's what Israel does. These explanations tell only half the story. We Stand Divided examines the history of the troubled relationship, showing that from the outset, the founders of what are now the world's two largest Jewish communities were responding to different threats and opportunities, and had very different ideas of how to guarantee a Jewish future. With an even hand, Daniel Gordis takes us beyond the headlines and explains how Israel and America have fundamentally different ideas about issues ranging from democracy and history to religion and identity. He argues that as a first step to healing the breach, the two communities must acknowledge and discuss their profound differences and moral commitments. Only then can they forge a path forward, together

Moment of truth : tackling Israel-Palestine's toughest questions

The weapon wizards : how Israel became a high-tech military superpower by Yaakov Katz

"From drones to satellites, missile defense systems to cyber warfare, Israel is leading the world when it comes to new technology being deployed on the modern battlefield. The Weapon Wizards shows how this tiny nation of 8 million learned to adapt to thechanges in warfare and become the new prototype of a 21st century superpower, not in size, but rather in innovation and efficiency--and as a result of its long war experience. Sitting on the front lines of how wars are fought in the 21st century, Israel has developed new weapons and retrofitted old ones so they remain effective, relevant, and deadly on a constantly-changing battlefield. While other countries begin to prepare for these challenges, they are looking to Israel--and specifically its weapons--for guidance. Israel is, in effect, a laboratory for the rest of the world. How did Israel do it? And what are the military and geopolitical implications of these developments? These are some of the key questions Yaakov Katz and Amir Bohbot address. Drawing on a vast amount of research, and unparalleled access to the Israeli defense establishment, this book is a report directly from the front lines"--

The only language they understand : forcing compromise in Israel and Palestine by Nathan Thrall

In a myth-busting analysis of the world's most intractable conflict, a star of Middle East reporting argues that only one weapon has yielded progress: confrontation. Scattered over the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea lie the remnants of failed peace proposals, international summits, secret negotiations, UN resolutions and state-building efforts. The conventional story is that these well-meaning attempts at peacemaking were repeatedly thwarted by the use of violence. Through arich interweaving of reportage, historical narrative and forceful analysis, Nathan Thrall presents a startling counter-history. He shows that Israelis and Palestinians have persistently been marching toward partition, but not through the high politics ofdiplomacy or the incremental building of a Palestinian state. In fact, negotiation, collaboration and state-building--the prescription of successive American administrations--have paradoxically entrenched the conflict in multiple ways. They have created the illusion that a solution is at hand, lessened Israel's incentives to end its control over the West Bank and Gaza and undermined Palestinian unity. Ultimately, it is those who have embraced confrontation through boycotts, lawsuits, resolutions imposed by outside powers, protests, civil disobedience, and even violence who have brought about the most significant change. Published as Israel's occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza reaches its fiftieth year, which is also the centenary of theBalfour Declaration that first promised a Jewish national home in Palestine, The Only Language They Understand advances a bold thesis that shatters ingrained positions of both left and right and provides a new and eye-opening understanding of this most vexed of lands.

Lioness: Golda Meir and the nation of Israel by Francine Klagsbrun

"The definitive biography of Golda Meir: the iron-willed leader, chain-smoking political operative, and tea-and-cake-serving grandmother who became the fourth prime minister of Israel and one of the most notable women of our time"--

Angels in the sky : how a band of volunteer airmen saved the new state of Israel by Robert L Gandt

"The gripping story of how an all-volunteer air force helped defeat five Arab nations and protect the fledgling Jewish state. In 1948, only three years after the Holocaust, the newly founded nation of Israel came under siege from a coalition of Arab states. The invaders vowed to annihilate the tiny country and its 600,000 settlers. A second Holocaust was in the making. Outnumbered sixty to one, the Israelis had no allies, no regular army, no air force, no superpower to intercede on their behalf. The United States, Great Britain, and most of Europe enforced a strict embargo on the shipment of arms to the embattled country. In the first few days, the Arab armies overran Israel. The Egyptian air force owned the sky, making continuous air attacks on Israeli cities and army positions. Israel's extinction seemed certain. And then came help. From the United States, Canada, Britain, France, South Africa arrived a band of volunteer airmen. Most were World War II veterans--young, idealistic, swaggering, noble, eccentric, courageous beyond measure. Many were Jews, a third were not. Most of them knowingly violated their nations' embargoes on the shipment of arms and aircraft to Israel. They smuggled in Messerschmitt fighters from Czechoslovakia, painting over swastikas with Israeli stars. Defying their own countries' strict laws, the airmen risked everything--their lives, careers, citizenship--to fight for Israel. They were a small group, fewer than 150. In the crucible of war they became brothers in a righteous cause. They flew, fought, died, and, against all odds, helped save a new nation. The saga of the volunteer airmen in Israel's war of independence stands as one of the most stirring--and untold--war stories of the past century"--

Defending Israel : the story of my relationship with my most challenging client by Alan M Dershowitz

No room for small dreams : courage, imagination, and the making of modern Israel by Shimon Peres

Trouble in the tribe : the American Jewish conflict over Israel by Dov Waxman

"Trouble in the Tribe explores the increasingly contentious place of Israel in the American Jewish community. In a fundamental shift, growing numbers of American Jews have become less willing to unquestioningly support Israel and more willing to publiclycriticize its government. More than ever before, American Jews are arguing about Israeli policies, and many, especially younger ones, are becoming uncomfortable with Israel's treatment of Palestinians. Dov Waxman argues that Israel is fast becoming a source of disunity for American Jewry, and that a new era of American Jewish conflict over Israel is replacing the old era of solidarity. Drawing on a wealth of in-depth interviews with American Jewish leaders and activists, Waxman shows why Israel has become such a divisive issue among American Jews. He delves into the American Jewish debate about Israel, examining the impact that the conflict over Israel is having on Jewish communities, national Jewish organizations, and on the pro-Israel lobby. Waxman sets this conflict in the context of broader cultural, political, institutional, and demographic changes happening in the American Jewish community. He offers a nuanced and balanced account of how this conflict over Israel has developed and what it means forthe future of American Jewish politics. Israel used to bring American Jews together. Now it is driving them apart. Trouble in the Tribe explains why"--

The angel : the Egyptian spy who saved Israel by Uri Bar-Joseph

"The first English-language book to tell the sensational story of Ashraf Marwan, a top Egyptian official who spied for the Mossad and almost singlehandedly saved Israel from defeat in the Yom Kippur War. The Angel is a gripping feat of reportage that blows open the Mossad and reveals the shocking truth behind Marwan's mysterious death"--

My promised land : the triumph and tragedy of Israel by Ari Shavit

Presents an examination of Israel that traces the events that led the country to its current state of conflict through the stories of everyday citizens to illuminate the importance of lesser-known historical events

Fateful triangle : the United States, Israel, and the Palestinians by Noam Chomsky

Killing a king : the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the remaking of Israel by Dan Ephron

In this place together : a Palestinian's journey to collective liberation by Penina Eilberg-Schwartz

"Through the story of Palestinian peace activist Sulaiman Khatib, this book offers a narrative meditation on joint nonviolence and shared dreams in Israel-Palestine, opening a window to the questions of power, multiple narratives, and imagination that touch conflicts and struggles for justice everywhere"--

The war of return : how Western indulgence of the Palestinian dream has obstructed the path to peace by Adi Schwartz

"Two prominent Israeli liberals argue that for the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians to end with peace, Palestinians must come to terms with the fact that there will be no "right of return." In 1948, seven hundred thousand Palestinians were forced out of their homes by the first Arab-Israeli War. More than seventy years later, most of their houses are long gone, but millions of their descendants are still registered as refugees, with many living in refugee camps. This group-unlike countless others that were displaced in the aftermath of World War II and other conflicts-has remained unsettled, demanding to settle in the state of Israel. Their belief in a "right of return" is one of the largest obstacles to successful diplomacy and lasting peacein the region. In The War of Return, Adi Schwartz and Einat Wilf-both liberal Israelis supportive of a two-state solution-reveal the origins of the idea of a right of return, and explain how UNRWA - the very agency charged with finding a solution for therefugees - gave in to Palestinian, Arab and international political pressure to create a permanent "refugee" problem. They argue that this Palestinian demand for a "right of return" has no legal or moral basis and make an impassioned plea for the US, theUN, and the EU to recognize this fact, for the good of Israelis and Palestinians alike. A runaway bestseller in Israel, the first English translation of The War of Return is certain to spark lively debate throughout America and abroad"--

Freedom is a constant struggle : Ferguson, Palestine, and the foundations of a movement by Angela Y Davis

In these newly collected essays, interviews, and speeches, world-renowned activist and scholar Angela Y. Davis illuminates the connections between struggles against state violence and oppression throughout history and around the world. Reflecting on the importance of black feminism, intersectionality, and prison abolitionism for today's struggles, Davis discusses the legacies of previous liberation struggles, from the Black Freedom Movement to the South African anti-Apartheid movement. She highlights connections and analyzes today's struggles against state terror, from Ferguson to Palestine. Facing a world of outrageous injustice, Davis challenges us to imagine and build the movement for human liberation. And in doing so, she reminds us that "Freedom is a constant struggle."

Tehran children : a Holocaust refugee odyssey by Mikhal Dekel

"The extraordinary true story of Polish-Jewish child refugees who escaped the Nazis and found refuge in Iran. More than a million Jews escaped east from Nazi occupied Poland to Soviet occupied Poland. There they suffered extreme deprivation in Siberian gulags and "Special Settlements" and then, once "liberated," journeyed to the Soviet Central Asian Republics. The majority of Polish Jews who survived the Nazis outlived the war in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan; some of them continued on to Iran. The story of their suffering, both those who died and those who survived, has rarely been told. Following the footsteps of her father, one of a thousand refugee children who traveled to Iran and later to Palestine, Dekel fuses memoir with historical investigation in this account of the all-but-unknown Jewish refuge in Muslim lands. Along the way, Dekel reveals the complex global politics behind this journey, discusses refugee aid and hospitality, and traces the making of collective identities that have shaped the postwar world--the histories nations tell and those they forget"--

The Palestinian delusion : the catastrophic history of the Middle East peace process by Robert Spencer

"Every negotiated settlement between the State of Israel and its Palestinian adversaries has failed to establish a stable and lasting peace. This is the history of what was attempted, why those failures were inevitable, and what must be done instead. Every new American President has a plan to bring about peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, and every one fails. Every "peace process" has failed in its primary objective: to establish a stable and lasting accord between the two parties, such that they can live together side-by-side in friendship rather than enmity. But why? And what can be done instead? While this failure is a consistent pattern stretching back decades, there is virtually no public discussion or even basic understanding of the primary reason for this failure. The Palestinian Delusion is unique in situating the Israeli/Palestinian conflict within the context of the global jihad that has found renewed impetus in the latter portion of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first. Briskly recounting the tumultuous history of the "peace process," Robert Spencer demonstrates that the determination of diplomats, policymakers, and negotiators to ignore this aspect of the conflict has led the Israelis, the Palestinians, and the world down numerous blind alleys. This has often only exacerbated, rather than healed, this conflict. The Palestinian Delusion offers a general overview of the Zionist settlement of Palestine, the establishment of the State of Israel, and the Arab Muslim reaction to these events. It explores the dramatic and little-known history of the various peace efforts -- showing how and why they invariably broke down or failed to be implemented fully. The Palestinian Delusion also provides shocking evidence from the Palestinian media, as well as statements from the Palestinian leadership, showing that negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians will never work. But there is still cause for hope. Spencer delineates a realistic, viable alternative to the endless and futile "peace process," that shows how the Jewish State and the Palestinian Arabs can truly coexist in peace -- without illusions or unrealistic expectations." --

The Oxford illustrated history of the Holy Land

The Oxford Illustrated History of the Holy Land covers the 3,000 years which saw the rise of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam -- and relates the familiar stories of the sacred texts with the fruits of modern scholarship. Beginning with the origins of the people who became the Israel of the Bible, it follows the course of the ensuing millennia down to the time when the Ottoman Empire succumbed to British and French rule at the end of the First World War. Parts of the story, especially as known from the Bible, will be widely familiar. Less familiar are the ways in which modern research, both from archaeology and from other ancient sources, sometimes modify this story historically. Better understanding, however, enables us to appreciate crucial chapters in the story of the Holy Land, such as how and why Judaism developed in the way that it did from the earlier sovereign states of Israel and Judah and the historical circumstances in which Christianity emerged from its Jewish cradle. Later parts of the story are vital not only for the history of Islam and its relationships with the two older religions, but also for the development of pilgrimage and religious tourism, as well as the notions of sacred space and of holy books with which we are still familiar today. Sensitive to the concerns of those for whom the sacred books of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are of paramount religious authority, the authors all try sympathetically to show how historical information from other sources, as well as scholarly study of the texts themselves, enriches our understanding of the history of the region and its prominent position in the world's cultural and intellectual history

Kingdom of olives and ash : writers confront the occupation

A groundbreaking collection of essays by celebrated international writers bears witness to the human cost of fifty years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

Death to the infidels : radical Islam's war against the Jews by Mitchell Geoffrey Bard

"For more than a century, much of the attention given to the Middle East has focused on the Arab-Israeli conflict. The rise of a Palestinian offshoot of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, transformed the nature of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. According to Bard, the dispute, in the view of Hamas, is not over a division of Palestine, but rather about Jews ruling over Muslims and the presence of Jews on Islamic land.

The Balfour Declaration : the origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict by Jonathan Schneer

City on a hilltop : American Jews and the Israeli settler movement by Sara Yael Hirschhorn

Since the June 1967 war, over 60,000 Jewish-Americans have settled in the occupied territories. Comprising 15 percent of the Israeli settler enterprise today, they have established major settlements, revolutionized the public relations of the movement andits engagement with the international community, and committed shocking acts of settler terrorism. City on a Hilltop unsettles stereotypes about Jewish-American settlers. It shatters the myth that they were messianic zealots, finding instead a group of young, highly-educated American Jews who were politically active in 1960s social movements and the Democratic Party prior to their immigration to Israel. Their generation didn't abandon their heritage when they settled over the Green Line-- rather they sawa historical opportunity to apply their liberal values to a new kind of "city on a hilltop." The story of Jewish-American settlers personifies the clash between liberal values and political realities at the heart of the crisis of liberal Zionism today.--

Jerusalem drawn and quartered : one woman's year in the heart of the Christian, Muslim, Armenian, and Jewish quarters of old Jerusalem by Sarah Tuttle-Singer

Jerusalem : the biography by Simon Sebag Montefiore

This narrow space : a pediatric oncologist, his Jewish, Muslim, and Christian patients, and a hospital in Jerusalem by Elisha Waldman

"A memoir both bittersweet and inspiring by an American pediatric oncologist who spent seven years in Jerusalem taking care of Israeli and Palestinian children with one tragic thing in common--a diagnosis of pediatric cancer In 2007, Elisha Waldman, a New York-based pediatric oncologist and palliative-care specialist in his mid-thirties, was offered his dream job: attending physician at Jerusalem's Hadassah Medical Center. He had gone to medical school in Israel and spent time there as a teenager; now hewas going to give something back to the land he loved. But in the wake of a financial crisis at the hospital that left him feeling unsure about his future, Waldman, with considerable regret, left Hadassah in 2014 and returned to America. This Narrow Space is his deeply affecting and poignant memoir of the seven years he spent taking care of children--Israeli Jews, Muslims, and Christians; Palestinian Arabs from the West Bank and Gaza--with one devastating thing in common: they had all been diagnosed withsome form of pediatric cancer. Waldman's years at Hadassah were filled in equal measure with a deep sense of accomplishment, with frustration when regional politics sometimes got in the way of his patients' care, and with tension over the fine line he would have to walk when the religious traditions of some of his patients' families made it difficult for him to give these children the care he felt they deserved. Navigating the baffling Israeli bureaucracy, the ever-present threat of war, and the culturalclashes that sometimes spilled over into his clinic, Waldman learned to be content with small victories: a young patient whose disease went into remission, brokenhearted parents whose final hours with their child were made meaningful and comforting. Ashe sought to create both a personal and a professional life in his new home, Waldman struggled with his own questions of identity and belief, and with the intractable conflict between Israelis and Palestinians that had become a fact of his daily life. What he learned about himself, about the complex country that he was nowa part of, and about the heartbreakingly brave and endearing children he cared for--whether they were from Me'ah She'arim, Ramallah, or Gaza City--will move and challenge readers everywhere"--

Crusaders : an epic history of the wars for the holy lands by Dan Jones

"For more than one thousand years, Christians and Muslims lived side by side, sometimes at peace and sometimes at war. When Christian armies seized Jerusalem in 1099, they began the most notorious period of conflict between the two religions. Depending onwho you ask, the fall of the holy city was either an inspiring legend or the greatest of horrors. In Crusaders, Dan Jones interrogates the many sides of the larger story, charting a deeply human and avowedly pluralist path through the crusading era. Expanding the usual timeframe, Jones looks to the roots of Christian-Muslim relations in the eighth century and tracks the influence of crusading to present day. He widens the geographical focus to far-flung regions home to so-called enemies of the Church, including Spain, North Africa, southern France, and the Baltic states. By telling intimate stories of individual journeys, Jones illuminates these centuries of war not only from the perspective of popes and kings, but from Arab-Sicilian poets, Byzantine princesses, Sunni scholars, Shi'ite viziers, Mamluk slave soldiers, Mongol chieftains, and barefoot friars. Crusading remains a rallying call to this day, but its role in the popular imagination ignores the cooperation and complicated coexistence that were just as much a feature of the period as warfare. The age-old relationships between faith, conquest, wealth, power, and trade meant that crusading was not only about fighting for the glory of God, but also, among other earthly reasons, about gold. In this richly dramatic narrative that gives voice to sources usually pushed to the margins, Dan Jones has written an authoritative survey of the holy wars with global scope and human focus"--

Shadow strike : inside Israel's secret mission to eliminate Syrian nuclear power by Yaakov Katz

"The never-before-told inside story of how Israel stopped Syria from becoming a global nuclear nightmare--and its far-reaching implications On September 6, 2007, shortly after midnight, Israeli fighters advanced on Deir ez-Zour in Syria. Israel often flew into Syria as a warning to President Bashar al-Assad. But this time, there was no warning and no explanation. This was a covert operation, with one goal: to destroy a nuclear reactor being built by North Korea under a tight veil of secrecy in the Syrian desert. Shadow Strike tells, for the first time, the story of the espionage, political courage, military might and psychological warfare behind Israel's daring operation to stop one of the greatest known acts of nuclear proliferation. It also brings Israel's powerful military and diplomatic alliance with the United States to life, revealing the debates President Bush had with Vice President Cheney and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as well as the diplomatic and military planning that took place in the Oval Office, the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, and inside the IDF's underground war room beneath Tel Aviv. These two countries remain united in a battle to prevent nuclear proliferation, to defeat Islamic terror, and to curtail Iran's attempts to spread its hegemony throughout the Middle East. Yaakov Katz's Shadow Strike explores how this operation continues to impact the world we live in today and if what happened in 2007 is a sign of what Israel will need to do one day to stop Iran's nuclear program. It also asks: had Israel not carried out this mission, what would the Middle East look like today?" --

Masada : from Jewish revolt to modern myth by Jodi Magness

Two thousand years ago, 967 Jewish men, women, and children - the last holdouts of the revolt against Rome following the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Second Temple - reportedly took their own lives rather than surrender to the Roman army. This dramatic event, which took place on top of Masada, a barren and windswept mountain overlooking the Dead Sea, spawned a powerful story of Jewish resistance that came to symbolize the embattled modern State of Israel. The first extensive archaeological excavations of Masada began in the 1960s, and today the site draws visitors from around the world. And yet, because the mass suicide was recorded by only one ancient author - the Jewish historian Josephus - some scholars question if the event ever took place. Jodi Magness, an archaeologist who has excavated at Masada, explains what happened there, how we know it, and how recent developments might change understandings of the story. Incorporating the latest findings, she integrates literary and historical sources to show what life was like for Jews under Roman rule during an era that witnessed the reign of Herod and Jesus's ministry and death. Featuring numerous illustrations, this is an engaging exploration of an ancient story that continues to grip the imagination today

What do you buy the children of the terrorist who tried to kill your wife? : a memoir by David Harris-Gershon

Describes how the author's wife was injured in an act of terrorism in Hebrew University's cafeteria, and his subsequent psychological journey digging through shadowy politics and traumatic histories

Recipient of the National Medal, the nation's highest honor for libraries.