The Complete Idiot's Guide to Middle East Conflict

1999 and 2001 I think | Mitchell G. Bard, Mitchell Geoffrey Bard

[dennisw]

 

 

The writer of the book was on MSNBC and looked very good.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0028632613/qid=1018190770/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-0554275-4226319

 

17 of 22 people found the following review helpful: Remarkable, January 28, 2002 Reviewer: A reader It is really remarkable the lengths to which the Arab lobby and their longtime cohorts have gone to pan this excellent book. One would think that Amazon was in bed with them, too, since it has effectively allowed for a forum of negative comments about this book that are shallow and non-specific, saying only that "the book is bad." Sorry, but that's not helpful. Nor is the term "propaganda" that is so thrown about below. Propaganda means deliberate mis-information. Well, I'd suggest that the only propaganda stemming from this book is the deliberate mis-information about it. The Arab lobby doesn't want you to remember that Arabs have started six wars against Israel and killed nearly 30,000 Jewish citizens of Israel. Don't be fooled. Buy this book, and learn the FACTS. 46 of 49 people found the following review helpful: An excellent, easy to read analysis of a complex topic, October 13, 1999 Reviewer: marcykog1@aol.com from United States Like most people, I read the paper every day and try to stay up to date on what's going on in the Middle East. But also like most people, I really never had a good sense for how the conflict started, who started it and why we, as Americans, care. Every book I've picked up on the MIddle East has been written in such technical language, and is so confusing that I just get too frustrated reading it and throw it aside. I thought I'd give the Idiot's Guide another chance. And boy am I glad I did! The book covers everything you've always wanted to know about the middle east but have been afraid to ask--and more. It presents an unbiased, thorough analysis on the topic in a reader-friendly, unintimidating style. I love the fact that I finally understand the basis of the middle east conflict and where we stand today. I strongly encourage people of all ages to read it! Was this review helpful to you?   23 of 32 people found the following review helpful: Wow!, December 14, 2001 Reviewer: Michael Freeman (see more about me) from Oklahoma City, OK USA I'm almost ashamed to say how much I learned from this book! The Middle-East is such an important part of the globe, but I think most Americans are quite ignorant about what really goes on over there. (After all. . . most of what we "learn" about current events we get off of the evening news.) I've always known, of course, how much the Jews are hated across the world, but I see even more now how pervasive this hatred is. Sadly enough, there are Americans who bear some of this hatred. This worldwide hatred doesn't bode well for any sort of peace in the area. The Arabs (at least the Arab leadership) don't want peace; they want the destruction of Israel and the extermination of the Jews. Anyway, back to the subject: this book is a wonderful overview of Arab-Israeli relations (and conflict) since before Israel became a nation again in 1948. Given the recent terrorist conflict, it gives the reader a wider view of the issues involved. Honestly, at some points the book reads almost like a war novel! It's not possible to create a plot as interesting as the one woven into Israeli history. It's hard to pack 50+ years of (recent) history into 400+ pages, of course, but this book is a great place to start. I highly recommend it. It has spurred my interest to get some more books on the subject. . . I especially want to read a few biographies of people involved in the conflict, such as Golda Meir.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rome2000]

Send a 100 copies to CNNABCCBSNBCWPNYT right away!

[Codie]

I have a question that perhaps you can answer for me.When Israel became a nation in 1948,did they offer the Palestinians statehood? I thought I had read that somewhere a few years ago,am I mistaken?

[financeprof]

Send a 100 copies to CNNABCCBSNBCWPNYT right away!

Remember,it's meant to help idiots,and is therefore unlikely to be of any use to the nat'l media, given that (a) they'd have to get a whole lot smarter to win promotion to idiot, and (b) they are willfully resistant to reason and facts.

[dennisw]

PINGING!   ) )  ) )  ) )  

If you want on or off me Israel/MidEast/Islamic Jihad/ ping list please let me know.  Via Freepmail is best way.............

[l33t]

England first gave eastern Palestine (to be called Trans-Jordan and then Jordan)to the Hashemites who lost out to the house of Saud in the Arabia. Then in 1947 the UN partioned Western Palestine for a Jewish and an Arab state. Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon immediately attacked Israel and occupied what was to be the Arab state in Palestine. But Israel agreed to the UN partition plan, the Arabs obviously did not.

[dennisw]

I have a question that perhaps you can answer for me.When Israel became a nation in 1948,did they offer the Palestinians statehood? I thought I had read that somewhere a few years ago,am I mistaken?

____________________________

I need to buy this book to give you a good answer. Pallie statehood was not Israel's to give. But Pallis could have had a state at this juncture. Via the British mandate. Instead the Arab armies invaded and tried to destroy the newly born Israel.

[knighthawk]

It's a shame Annan is too lame to read, but this may be just what he needs!

[Bonaparte]

Mitchell Pard backgrounder

[Victoria Delsoul]

Thanks for the info.

[mv1]

"Israeli support for Islamic extremists, as an opposition force to the secular pro-PLO movement, eventually blew up in Israel's face. Hamas, for example, which was born out of the Moslem Brotherhood with Israeli encouragement, is to this day a central factor in the Palestinian resistance and political system."

[veronica]

A companion piece:

Useful Idiots [Rush Limbaugh Addresses The Useful Idiot's Views On the Middle East]

[malarski]

Then in 1947 the UN partioned Western Palestine for a Jewish and an Arab state.

It would be interesting to find out who, on the UN Security Council, proposed such a solution.

[malarski]

I don't think that Mr. Bard is unbiased in "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Middle East Conflict" unless he really considers as complete idiots those, who will read his book. His paid work for AIPAC as described in the Jewish Virtual Library certainly emphasizes that view.

---

Dr. Mitchell G. Bard

Mitchell Bard is the Executive Director of the nonprofit AMERICAN-ISRAELI COOPERATIVE ENTERPRISE (AICE) and a foreign policy analyst who lectures frequently on U.S.-Middle East policy. Dr. Bard is also the webmaster for the Jewish Virtual Library, the world’s most comprehensive online encyclopedia of Jewish history and culture.

For three years he was the editor of the Near East Report, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's (AIPAC) weekly newsletter on U.S. Middle East policy.

Prior to working at AIPAC, Dr. Bard was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California at Irvine where he collaborated on a research project examining the politics behind the rescue of Ethiopian Jews. He also served as a senior analyst in the polling division of the 1988 Bush campaign.

Dr. Bard’s work has appeared in academic journals, magazines and major newspapers. He is the author of:

• The Water's Edge And Beyond: Defining the Limits to Domestic Influence on U.S. Middle East Policy

• Partners for Change: How U.S.-Israel Cooperation Can Benefit America

• U.S.-Israel Relations: Looking to the Year 2000

• Building Bridges: Lessons For America From Novel Israeli Approaches To Promote Coexistence

• Myths And Facts: A Concise Record of the Arab-Israeli Conflict (coauthor)

• Forgotten Victims: The Abandonment of Americans in Hitler's Camps

• The Complete Idiot's Guide to World War II

• The Complete Idiot's Guide to Middle East Conflict

• The Complete History of the Holocaust

• The Holocaust (Turning Points in World History)

• Myths and Facts: A Guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict
• The Nuremberg Trials (At Issue in History)

Forthcoming books include: 1001 Facts About Israel, The Politics Behind the Rescue of Ethiopian Jews and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding the Brain.

Dr. Bard is also the editor of four studies published by AICE:

• Learning Together: Israeli Innovations in Education that Could Benefit Americans

• Experience Counts: Innovative Programs For The Elderly In Israel That Can Benefit Americans

• Good Medicine: Israeli Innovations In Health Care That Could Benefit Americans

• Breakthrough Dividend: Israeli Innovations In Biotechnology That Could Benefit Americans.

Bard holds a Ph.D. in political science from UCLA and a master’s degree in public policy from Berkeley. He received his B.A. in economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Contact Dr. Bard

[agrace]

A Palestinian state was offered by the 47 UN partition plan, which gave Israel a checkerboard state and no Jerusalem, but Israel took it. The Arab states did not. On May 14, 1948, Israel declared independence, and the Arab states attacked. The Arab states were soundly beaten over the next few months. Israel gained more territory than originally partitioned to her, but stopped short of capturing the Old City of Jerusalem as part of a truce with Transjordan.

As a result of the war, Transjordan occupied the West Bank and the Old City. In 1950, Transjordan became Jordan and permanently annexed the West Bank & Jerusalem, over the objections of the Arab League. That land was held by Jordan until 1967, when Israel gained it as a result of yet another attack by the Arab states. During the 17+ years that Jordan held it, there were no calls for withdrawal or complaints of "illegal occupation." This of course changed when Israel gained it. Then suddenly it was valuable real estate to the "Palestinians."

Interestingly enough, Arafat's PLO was formed in 1964 (and has been attacking Israel ever since), three full years before Israel took over the West Bank and Gaza (which was previously held by Egypt), demonstrating that Israel's withdrawal from "occupied territories" really doesn't matter in the grand scheme.

Here's a link to the text of David Ben Gurion's radio address declaring independence. An excerpt -

WE APPEAL - in the very midst of the onslaught launched against us now for months - to the Arab inhabitants of the State if Israel to return to the ways of peace and play their part in the upbuilding of the State, on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its bodies and institutions - provisional or permanent.

WE EXTEND our hand of peace and unity to all the neighbouring states and their peoples, and invite them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people settled in its own land. The State of Israel is prepared to do its share in a common effort for the advancement of the entire Middle East.

[MajorDaniel]

This book was written by idiots, and the only people who
would believe anything in it would be idiotic. It amazes
me that anyone would risk their reputation and publish
this book.

[scratcher]

Just bought a copy to send to an idiot I know!