Product Description

The ebbing support for Israel among Western Governments is a major landmark in the history of the last decade and is, without a doubt, an issue that has already influenced many international events. Richard Ben Cramer, who has a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the Middle East, now presents readers with HOW ISRAEL LOST, a definitive study of the once-triumphant country that has failed in the eyes of the world. Cramer gets to the core of what is troubling so many Westerners about Israel: the contradiction between its humanistic foundation and its harsh treatment of the Palestinians. Since Israel was founded, the West has seen it as a beacon of hope and democracy in a hostile world. Cramer describes how in the past ten years Israelis seem to have squandered that respect and good will, focusing on the key players and crucial events that have turned the tide against Israel in the eyes of the international community. With the same meticulous research and intelligence that has made Richard Ben Cramer one of America's most highly regarded journalists, HOW ISRAEL LOST is a timely, powerful and important look at one of the most pivotal points of the world - and in history.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1009781 in Books
• Published on: 2004-05-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
It may seem surprising that a lengthy exploration of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians could be entertaining. But, in How Israel Lost, Pulitzer Prize-winner Richard Ben Cramer manages to pull off just such a feat while sacrificing neither the gravity of the situation nor the intricacies of a political and religious war that seems to grow perpetually more bloody and intractable. He argues that Israel is being slowly destroyed by their continued occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, which is in turn destroying the Palestinians' hopes for a homeland of their own. Cramer's book is divided into four questions about the conflict ("Why do we care about Israel?", "Why don't the Palestinians have a state?", "What is a Jewish state?" and "Why is there no peace?") modelled after the questions asked at a Passover seder. It's tricky to bring fresh insight to the situation in the Middle East since the cycle of attacks and subsequent retaliations is so depressingly perpetual. But Cramer strikes just the right tone to spark reader interest: irreverent without being inappropriate, blunt and direct without oversimplifying, and passionate without being biased. He's at his best in the book's final chapter, offering advice for hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ("Give back the land--the West Bank and Gaza") and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat ("bring one actual lawyer and someone to talk English on TV"). And while the history lessons provided in How Israel Lost are worthwhile, particularly to those whose knowledge of the conflict doesn't reach past the morning papers, it's Cramer's personal anecdotes of the human beings in the middle of the crisis and his own experiences covering it, combined with his lively writing, that make this such a compelling read. --John Moe, Amazon.com

About the Author
Richard Ben Cramer's magazine articles have appeared in ROLLING STONE, THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER and ESQUIRE, where he serves as contributing editor, and have been anthologised in BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS.

Customer Reviews

A Wise And Courageous Book - A Must-Read!
Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Richard Ben Cramer, has committed a courageous but relatively unpopular act by writing this book. He does not seem to fear sacred cows. Cramer dares to discuss Israel's activities in the occupied territories and the viability of an independent Palestinian State, and by this very act, he impacts the boundaries of the Israeli Palestinian discussion. American Jews are concerned, primarily, with the preservation and security of Israel. But are Israeli leaders as concerned with the principles the state was founded on - the principles I believed in while growing up? "We shall be like a light unto the nations of the world," is what I was taught. Israel was to be a beacon of hope and democracy in a hostile world. Cramer, through personal observation and challenging arguments, questions whether the Israelis, and Jews who support them, have forgotten their original high standards and goals. Are we failing ourselves as a people, as a nation? Cramer's narrative revolves around four questions, a modification of the Four Questions asked during the Passover seder: "Why do we care about Israel? Why don't the Palestinians have a state? What is a Jewish state? Why is there no peace?"

Cramer believes that Israel, as the occupier, has become just as much a victim of the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza as the Palestinians. He argues that the enduring occupation has corrupted and corroded both Israeli and Arab societies. And he asks, is Israel losing her very soul? I don't know if Mr. Cramer is saying anything here that hasn't been discussed before. All I know is that he has consolidated many of my own thoughts and clarified various issues which have weighed heavily on me for over 30 years. The rise of the Knesset's right wing coalition is discussed at length. The Israeli Supreme Court is taken on for its failure to issue injunctions against demolitions, security checkpoints, land expropriations, torture and assassinations that impact the lives of dozens of innocents along with those targeted. How is it possible for a just and humane society to treat the Palestinians so harshly? And, yes, I can ask this while understanding the violence the Israelis have been subjected to for more than half a century.

Cramer paints an extraordinary realistic portrait of the two societies, highlighting people and situations with his wonderful humor and humanism. He is at his best when giving advice to Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat!! His writing and observations are startlingly clear, and his ability to work well with languages lend vigor and flair to the blunt, honest narrative. His anecdotes and personal observations are what make this book so compelling.

This is journalism at its best and bound to spark conflict and controversy. I, myself felt, and continue to feel, conflicted about the issues discussed here. I grew up in a secular, Zionist household - Zionism meaning, (to me), "a political movement holding that the Jewish people constitute a nation and deserve a national homeland - a return of the Jewish people to their homeland and the resumption of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel." The joining of Jews of all persuasions, left and right, religious and secular, to work together toward tangible and spiritual goals. On the one hand, the author articulately expresses some of my complex feelings and emotions about the Jewish State - many of the problems and paradoxes confronting it - the terrible malaise afflicting it. I relate to his disillusionment. On the other hand I am the first to argue, to defend, to blame the violence, the Intifadas, etc., for the actions of the Israeli government.

In Cramer's words, "To me, it's an open-and-shut case: You can't ask two generations of your boys to act in the territories as the brutal kings of all they survey ('Break their bones,' was the order to his troops from the sainted Yitzhak Rabin, during the first Intifada -- six years before he became Israel's martyr to peace) -- and then expect those boys to come home, and live in lamblike gentleness as citizens, husbands, dads."

A must-read for anyone interested in this major issue which so strongly impacts the today's world.
JANA

A veteran foreign correspondent's view
An original and incisive account detailing the current state of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel, that "eyelash of land", is a place the author covered as a foreign correspondent in the 1980s. His latter-day return explores what has caused the shift in perception of Israel among the US public. The author finds a much-changed country. He details the effect of the occupation on Israelis and Palestinians alike. The book's most powerful sections are stories of individuals whose lives get intertwined with Mid East politics.
The author patiently explains why the region will get worse rather than better, and why resolution is unlikely all the while both sides' leaders have good reason to perpetuate the status quo. He is also convincing in explaining why Israel's fragmented society is unlikely to effect change from below. The only quibble is the author's relentless use of asides (in brackets). The book's achievement is to add new insights to a conflict far from short on literature.

How Israel Lost: The Four Questions
An Excellent book that reflects the real story of the daily life in both Israel and Palestine. Informative yet humerous, the auther illustrates both sides excercising very little bias.
Definately worth reading.