Rating: 
Summary: History Based on Verifiable Facts
Review: In a world which seems to care less and less for verifiable historical facts, Bard's book restores the reader's faith that the truth lies in verifiable facts. Unlike many other publications (and media pundits), hardly no statement in the book is included which cannot be easily verified through its original source. Bard's use of references is complete, providing reader's with not only the source's content but also necessary information such as title, authors, volumes, publisher, chapter/pages etc., (for research purposes). Therein lies the beauty of it all: Each reader can consult the ORIGINAL source of information and follow its path to today rather than rely on the reconstituted, misinformed, and very lazy opinion of "pundits" who speak on the basis of a blending between their personal emotion and half-truths. This book is espcially complete in its information from the Ottoman period forward. It's the closest thing to "science" I've ever read on the matter.
Rating:
Summary: History Based on Verifiable Facts
Review: In a world which seems to care less and less for verifiable historical facts, Bard's book restores the reader's faith that the truth lies in verifiable facts. Unlike many other publications (and media pundits), hardly no statement in the book is included which cannot be easily verified through its original source. Bard's use of references is complete, providing reader's with not only the source's content but also necessary information such as title, authors, volumes, publisher, chapter/pages etc., (for research purposes). Therein lies the beauty of it all: Each reader can consult the ORIGINAL source of information and follow its path to today rather than rely on the reconstituted, misinformed, and very lazy opinion of "pundits" who speak on the basis of a blending between their personal emotion and half-truths. This book is espcially complete in its information from the Ottoman period forward. It's the closest thing to "science" I've ever read on the matter.
Rating: 
Summary: Filled with facts but very one-sided
Review: The book Myth and Facts is a publication of some Jewish organization that addresses various "myths" about Israel and tries to justify Israel's actions since its creation in 1948.The book does an excellent job in describing "Palestine" prior to Israel's creation in 1948 and has much evidence backing up its claims. If you don't think Israel should exist, you might want to read this book; it'll probably change your mind some. It also does a fairly good job in justifying Israel's actions in 1967, but lacks in "facts" when it comes to the Suez Crisis in 1956. Hmmm, makes you wonder... In addition, the book fails to address the treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza after 1967. There is a strong "myth" that Israel has violated many civil rights of Palestinians. I was hoping this book would have something on that issue, but unfortunately it did not. It totally ignores the living conditions of Palestinians. That would indicate to me that in fact Israel does opress Palestinians. Overall, the book does have many well-documented facts but it also is very one-sided and does not bring up many of the issues that are present in the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is a good book, but certainly is not the only book you should read on the subject.
Rating:
Summary: A great answer to Israel-bashing propaganda
Review: The group I helped to found at my university in my senior year, Student Alliance for Israel, our gift to the younger classes, made use of the great information contained in this book, like in some of the flyers on SAFI's table in the Campus Center. The best defences are education and knowledge, and sadly many people, whatever their stance, just don't know the truth about a lot of these issues. I know that sadly many people on the extreme Left won't believe even the rebuttals of the myths in this book, no matter how well-documented and historically authentic the facts are, but at least when you counter their radical anti-Israel propaganda with solid facts, statistics, and examples, they have something to chew on besides just a general response of "That's wrong" or "I know that's a completely absurd allegation, but I don't know how to counter it, so I won't make myself look like a fool by trying to answer that." Some people think this book is biased, but it's the truth. Maybe it makes them feel uncomfortable that basic history, well-documented history, supports Israel and doesn't paint the Arabs living in Israel as helpless bullied victims. Still, it's hard to come up with any honest nonpropagandistic rebuttals to this biting slice of the truth.
Rating:
Summary: Complete and current
Review: This 461-page book is set up in 25 chapters that break the Arab-Israel conflict into bite-sized easily digestible pieces, loaded with facts. ...It runs right through the current low-grade war against Israel, which Yasser Arafat planned even as he and other top-level negotiators met with Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak at Camp David in July 2000. The volume throughout makes statements that are almost universally regarded as fact, and then proceeds to rebut them with data and history. (...) You may hear various complaints that is a one-sided pro-Israel account. It is unquestionably pro-Israel, but not one-sided. Take the 40-page chapter on refugees, one of the highlights of this superb volume. Its 80 footnotes run for almost three pages--and 25 Arab sources include nine original Arab newspaper articles, several Arab authors and studies by Bir Zeit University. The refugee chapter begins with the myth that one million Palestinians were expelled form Israel in 1947 through 1949, and then counters that myth with evidence including the 1949 Armistice agreement and United Nations reports of the day. In fact, the Arab census of 1945 found 1.2 million Arabs in all of Palestine, but only 809,100 within the boundaries of what became Israel. A 1949 Israeli census found 160,000 Arabs inside Israel, which meant that no more than 650,000 Palestinian Arabs could have become refugees. But the United Nations Mediator on Palestine at that time put the figure at only 472,000. Much similar material fills this rich reference. The volume's sourcing is impeccable; All those books sited that I own, I can report first hand, are irreproachable pieces of scholarship. In addition to the chapters on everything from Jewish settlements, Jerusalem and human rights in the territories to the arms balance, U.S. Middle East policy, the peace process and Holocaust denial, you will find complete copies of many of the major documents that govern Israel and its relationship with Arab states and the PLO entity. There is also a superb two-page list for further reading, and a full index. Altogether, this is one of the better references on the Arab-Israel conflict to emerge in recent years. It is dispassionate, accurate, complete and current. Alyssa A. Lappen
Rating: 
Summary: Simplistic and Illogical Propaganda
Review: This book is divided into many short chapters, each of which picks one supposedly "Arab myth" and tries to refute it. The list of topics is quite elementary and the 'refutations' are superficial and in many cases illogical or self-contradicting. The book places much emphasis on trivialities like names and terminology instead of substance, leading to absurd contradictions like claiming an inherent Jewish right to Palestine based on residence 2000 years ago, while denying the same right to Palestinians who were born there. Briefly, this book [appears to be] an attempt to meddle myths and facts beyond recognition....
Rating:
Summary: Simplistic and Illogical Propaganda
Review: This book is divided into many short chapters, each of which picks one supposedly "Arab myth" and tries to refute it. The list of topics is quite elementary and the 'refutations' are superficial and in many cases illogical or self-contradicting. The book places much emphasis on trivialities like names and terminology instead of substance, leading to absurd contradictions like claiming an inherent Jewish right to Palestine based on residence 2000 years ago, while denying the same right to Palestinians who were born there. Briefly, this book [appears to be] an attempt to meddle myths and facts beyond recognition.... --This text refers to the Paperback edition
Rating: 
Summary: Very informative but also one-sided
Review: This book is excellent in many ways. It is easy to read and reference, and does a good job shattering many myths that have, over generations, cast Israel in an unfair light. Many of these myths are simply created by Arab and liberal medias and hold absolutely no truth. One important myth he exposes is the one that America always blindly takes Israel's side. Bard points out several examples where, by U.N. vote and other means, America has very blatantly NOT sided with Israel. Another important fact he details has to do with weapons sales. Bard shows that U.S. weapons sales to Israel didn't even begin, nor increase, until parallel weapons sales to surrounding Arab countries by way of France, Germany, and Russia, began to flourish rapidly. Most of the airplanes Israel destroyed in Egypt's air force during the 1967 war were Russian MiGs and French Mirages. This book is definately one-sided from the Israeli perspective, but still a very informative read if you're looking to strengthen your arguments. Two things I didn't like besides the one-sidedness though...one, Bard is not a moderate. He defends even the most controversial of Israeli actions, to include extremeists' settlements in the West Bank. He refuses to see this as part of the current problem, nor is he (unlike a vast majority of Israelis) willing to compromise for peace. Two, he refuses to admit that Israel has ever done anything wrong during it's entire history, to include the bombing of the USS Liberty. Every military action that can be questioned as either poorly judged or heavy handed, he either defends to the death or makes up excuses for. Dude, nobody's perfect, and no military will ever fight a war without terrible, if unintended, side effects. A humble admittance of error with assurances at future prevention goes a lot farther than self-righteous denial. I'm a supporter of Israel and I think they have every right to act not only in their security, but in their self-interest. But nobody is an angel. I love America too, but refusing to admit we've done some shady things in the past is nothing more than lying to myself. We make mistakes, we learn from them, and we move on. For a much deeper, evenhanded look at Middle East conflicts, read "Israel's Wars" by Aaron Bregman.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: This book perfectly and clearly explains the falsehoods in common anti-Israel believes. This book is a must read for anyone before the word "Israel" comes out of their mouths.
Rating:
Summary: An EXCELLENT simple book to clear up the many myths
Review: This is a clearly written FACT filled book that presents a myth or commen misconception about the arab-israel conflict and then presents the facts about the case, in this way it forms a wonderful reference to look up commen things youll hear in the media and elsewhere.
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