The Complete Idiot's Guide to Middle East Conflict (2nd Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Utter Rubbish!
Review: I would say that this book is unabashedly pro-Israeli, but in fact it repeats many worn myths that even Israeli historians have long since repudiated. The section on the Deyr Yassin massacre is truly pathetic. And the description of the events surrounding the downing of an Iranian civilian airbus by the USS Vincennes in 1988 is so completely inaccurate and totally contrary to the facts (as established by a joint Newsweek and Nightline investigation, a BBC investigation, and the ICAO investigation) that I literally thought this was a work of fiction. With Daniel Pipes as a consultant, what can you expect?

Rating:
Summary: Misleading
Review: This is an extremely biased and misleading book. Arabs are portrayed as being belligerent and religiously barbaric, while the Israelis are shown to be innocently in search of peace and at all costs willing to compromise. The core issues that sparked the ongoing Middle East conflict in the early part of the 20th century are conveniently distorted; which reflect Dr. Bard's anti-Arab views.

Rating:
Summary: Truly the Idtiot's Guide
Review: Anyone who wants to pick up an unbiased and informative text discussing the various conflicts of the Middle East should not bother opening this book. Dr. Bard's analysis of the Arab-Israeli issues is slanted at best and completely inaccurate at worst. His perspective reflects solely the Israeli point of view while vilifying practically every Arab action of the past 52 years. This is exactly what an introductory guidebook should not do. The Middle East is what it is today for many complex socioeconomic and political reasons. Dr. Bard focuses mainly on the religious issues, his statements serving to reinforce the Israeli right to complete control of the Holy Land by virtue of being the "Chosen." At the same time, he distorts the undisputed facts about such atrocities as the Deir Yassin massacre. He downplays the reality of the deaths of over 200 Palestinian civilians by the Irgun Group, asserting that the women killed were actually men dressed as women. Anyone who knows anything about this tragedy must be aware that these allegations are ridiculous. If you want to learn more about the Middle East you would do much better reading "A Concise History of the Middle East" by Arthur Goldschmidt.

Rating:
Summary: A comprehensive guide to understanding Middle East conflict.
Review: Don't be misled by the title. This book is a penetrating analysis of the history of the conflicts in the region and the prospects for peace. Though it shuns political science jargon, it does not skimp on the facts and will help you better understand the complexities of the region.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent overview of conflict in the middle east
Review: Having little knowledge of the history of the conflict, I was eager to learn "just what is going on over there?" I agree that this book is somewhat pro-Israel, but keeping that in mind I found it to be quite interesting. While the author does present some opinion, the vast majority of the book concerns factual events. The book starts with a short history of the three major religions involved (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), then covers events in the region throughout history. It moves generally chronologically, although it covers certain subjects in total; for example, the Iran-Iraq war is covered in a separate chapter, though events in other chapters occurred simultaneously. After finishing this book, I had a much greater understanding of why there is so much animosity in the middle east.

Rating:
Summary: Bard shows partiality, not objectivity...
Review: I have been working with Palestinian Christians for five years now in their attempts to maintain dignity and a living wage in the face of the Israeli Occupation. This book does a disservice to their plight, painting a picture of pre-Israeli Palestine as a desolate, un-developed land and the Palestinians as unorganized southern Syrians with no sense of attachment to the land. Try telling this to the men and women who harvest olive trees that their ancestors planted 1,000 years ago. Read Munib Younan's book for a better firsthand account of what life is really like for the Arab peoples.

Rating:
Summary: Oh my Yahweh!!!
Review: First off, If youre Pro-Israeli, you will love this book. It caters to the Zionist crowd, just as Mein Kampf is beloved by the Nazi's.

From a more scholarly viewpoint, this book is a disgrace to both the "For Dummies" and "Complete Idiot's" series.

The author "Mitchy" Bard, is a jew, and a zionist, so right off you know what side of the field he is sitting on. From the preface and on, of book you can see the little tricks Bard utlizies to dumb down the reader, and lead them to accepting his Pro-Israel/Pro-Racist arguments.

Bard goes above and beyond to show the anti-Jewish quotes made in the Koran, yet there is no mention of the prejudice in Jewish holy books. Heck, according to the Holy Talmud, Gentiles like you and me are below animals (while conveniently Jews are the apple of God's eyes).

Also Bard presents Jews as a descrete group of people, which in actuality is false. Jews are people who practice Judaism, not a separate racial group. Most Jews are white/european, so their claims to be Semitic and natives of the Holy Land is just absurd. I mean, people like Monica Lewinsky, Woody Allen, Sarah Michelle Gellar, etc. who are Jewish cant be considered as middle-eastern.

I recently learned that Mitchell Bard graduted from UCLA. After reading this book, I strongly urgue the author to go back to campus and ask for his money back.

Rating:
Summary: A non-biased Israel/Palestine recap? Not even close
Review: I'm halfway through this book, It's an painless way to get up to speed through Biblical times and through the world wars. However, history is written by the winner I suppose. The book is loaded with Pro-israeli language. Israelis were terrorists too in the early going, yet the author justifies their actions while condeming the arabs later on. Israeli actions are always described in logical terms whereas Arabs are always potrayed as Raving Militants. This isn't a very balanced book

Rating:
Summary: A good description of the Arab war against Zionism
Review: There are a number of reviews of this book which imply that one has to be biased in favor of Zionism or biased against Zionism. Okay, let's say for the sake of argument that this is true.

Zionism is merely Jewish nationalism. It means human rights for everyone, including Jews. Antizionism means opposition to human rights for Levantine Jews.

Antizionism is a consistent position to have, but it is arbitrary and racist. And it opposes human rights.

There are three reasons why one might want to be an antizionist anyway. The first is that one might feel that Jews are just too different to be admitted to human society. A second reason is that there is a war going on against the Jews that may be worth fighting out of considerations of loyalty to one's friends, no matter how wicked and racist it is. A third reason is that it is fun to tell lies and slander, rob, mistreat, and bully people, especially when it seems that you can get away with it.

Very few people have the first attitude. The second attitude does not require lying about the past and present. The third attitude includes lies and taunts as part of the package. It wouldn't be any fun without constant lies. And the books that have a "bias" against Zionism are almost all representative of this point of view. Believe me, you do not want any of them, even if you are an antizionist. You want the truth no matter who you may be.

You may think you can find a good book in the second category: the truth from a racist opponent of human rights. Good luck. For example, try "Bitter Harvest" by Sami Hadawi. It leaves out the entire Jewish point of view, already a big omission. On top of that, it includes a number of absurd and arbitrary lies that result in some serious self-inconsistencies in his tale.

The reason that some (not all) of the pro-Zionist books on the subject are much closer to truth than the anti-Zionist ones is that most anti-Zionists have simply abandoned truth in an effort to get support from people who think they support human rights.

That is why you want Bard's book as an introduction. This will give you a good foundation in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. And after reading it, yes, you'll want to look at some other material to see a wide variety of viewpoints. But you'll never want to read something composed of pure lies which are written only to lure supporters of human rights into supporting racist opponents of those rights. And starting with the facts in Bard's book will help you avoid that.



Rating:
Summary: Great but Biased toward Isreal - Is there a Compliment?
Review: I am a 46-year-old WASP who after observing that every presidency since I was old enough to vote (1976) has been dominated by the Middle East Conflict. All we get in the US is the Jewish or Isreali perspective. After doing a few years of business in Egypt and Bahrain, I at least discovered that there was a different view, and it probably was time that I (and the rest of the country) begin to do some diligence and get the full story - whatever it is. Mitchell Bard's book was my first choice in hopes that it could accellerate me through the past and present history. It did, Bard does a great job at presenting an amazing amount of detail. The only problem is that his bias begins to show after about 100 pages, and increases noticably after each page. I don't fault him for this, he is jewish, and entitled to his opinion. But it does remind me that this is only half of the story, and begs the question: is there a book covering the same material written from the Palestinean percpective?. Any recommendations?