The Rape of Palestine and the Struggle for Jerusalem

Rating:
Summary: Pretty biased but good for one Israeli perspective
Review: I think it would be dangerous for someone to read this book and think that it accurately recounts the events that took place.

I knew the writer was not a historian but I didn't realize his father was a Rabbi until half-way into the book. The writer leans heavily on the side of Israel. The book also needed a better editor...grammar kept shifting around.

My problem with the book was his inability to describe an event with accuracy. I have enough background in Palestine history to know when he would tell one side of the story and completely disregard the other. A prime example came at the beginning of the book when he went through the violence during the Mandate period. He leaves the reader with the impression that all the violence was driven by Arabs but he obviously knows the truth because he doesn't implicitely state it. Another example is when he stretches the truth when he mentions the Irgun without mentioning that they were an Israeli terrorist organization. It reminded me of reading a Palestinian webpage with the opposite point of view. Unfortunately, neither one can be relied upon for accurate information. I am reading One Palestine Complete right now and it seems more balanced...so far.

Rating:
Summary: A straightforward account of the fight over Jerusalem
Review: While this book is based on secondary sources, it does a fine job of describing the past 100 years of the Arab fight against Jewish rights. It is an excellent introduction to the Arab-Israeli conflict as a whole. In that respect, it is probably superior to most university textbooks on the subject.