Product Description

Journalist Jonathan Cook explores Israel's key role in persuading the Bush administration to invade Iraq, as part of a plan to remake the Middle East, and their joint determination to isolate Iran and prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons that might rival Israel's own. This concise and clearly argued book makes the case that Israel's desire to be the sole regional power in the Middle East neatly chimed with Bush's objectives in the 'war on terror'. Examining a host of related issues, from the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians to the role of Big Oil and the demonisation of the Arab world, Cook argues that the current chaos in the Middle East is the objective of the Bush administration - a policy that is equally beneficial to Israel. Praise for Jonathan Cook's previous book, Blood and Religion: 'Timely and important -by far the most penetrating and comprehensive [book] on the subject.' Nur Masalha, Director of Holy Land Studies, St Maryðs College, University of Surrey, and author of The Politics of Denial (2003) 'An original and powerful book.' Ilan Pappe, Senior Lecturer in Political Science at Haifa University, and author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (2006)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #175458 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Review
One of the most cogent understandings of the modern Middle East I have read. It is superb, because the author himself is a unique witness who blows away the media debris and presents both a j'accuse of those who would destroy the lives of whole societies in their pursuit of power and myth, and a warning to the rest of us to speak up and act. --John Pilger, author of Freedom Next Time (2006) and The New Rulers of the World (2003)

A compelling account of the recent wars for Middle East oil, untangling a complex web of interests shared by the neocons, Israel and the Bush White House. Cook's timely book raises disturbing questions about where Israel and the US hope to push the region next. --David Hirst, author of The Gun and the Olive Branch (2003)

American-Israeli relations have intrigued, occupied and preoccupied two generations of scholars and of politicians. ... Jonathan Cook's book undeniably enriches and elevates the debate. --Afif Safieh, Palestinian Ambassador in Washington

About the Author
Jonathan Cook, a former staff journalist for the Guardian and Observer newspapers, has also written for The Times, Le Monde diplomatique, International Herald Tribune, Al-Ahram Weekly and Aljazeera.net. He is based in Nazareth. Jonathan is the author of Blood and Religion (Pluto Press).

Customer Reviews

Provocative look at the Middle East - instability being spread deliberately?
This book examines Israel's strategic goals in the Middle East. The author argues that traditionally, both America and Israel prefered Arab states to be run by strongmen. The key strategic goal was to keep Arab countries stable. The author argues that after 9/11, this changed. Israeli and American hawks changed strategy, and decided that it was time to reverse the policy. Far from promoting stability, the aim should now be to promote instability in Arab countries. This would weaken Arab rivals to Israel's dominance of the region, and empower minority client groups in Arab nations, with which Israel and the US could form alliances of convenience.

Indeed, the author argues that the rioting, looting and civil war post-Iraq invasion were not the unexpected consequence of a well meaning invasion. They were, contends the author, part of the plan to keep Iraq weak and divided, and thus easier to exploit for its oil and fresh water. Furthermore, it had been an Israeli idea stretching back to the 1980s to encourage Iraq to become de facto a state divided into three (Sunni, Shia and Kurd). The author warns that Iran is next on the hitlist for this "spread instability" strategy, particularly because its posession of nuclear weapons could throw this strategy on its head.

The book is deeply provocative, and anyone interested in the war on terror, Iraq or current affairs generally will gain from this book.

...without demanding omniscience
The Book:

In "Israel and the clash of civilisations" Jonathan Cook argues that the prevalent view of Iraq's fate - that its civil war was a terrible and unforeseen consequence of the US invasion and a series of bad decisions made by the occupation regime - is profoundly mistaken. Rather, civil war and partition were the intended outcome of the invasion and seen as beneficial to American interests, or at least they were by a small group of ultra-hawks known as the neoconservatives who came to dominate the White House under President George W.Bush. The neoconservatives' understanding of American interests in the Middle East was little different from that of previous administrations: securing control of oil in the Persian Gulf. But what distinguished Bush's invasion of Iraq from similar US attempts at regime change was the strategy used to achieve this goal.

This distinctive new strategy for regime overthrow adopted by the White House originated far from Washington, and was apparently opposed by most of the country's senior military command and by the Sate Department under Colin Powell. In the early 1980s Israel's security establishment has developed ideas about dissolving the other states of the Middle East to encourage ethnic and religious discord. This was in essence a re-imagining of the regional power structure that had existed under the Ottomans - before the arrival of the European colonialists and their forced reordering of the Middle East into nation states - but with Israel replacing the Turks as the local imperial power. In this way, hoped Israel and the neocons, large and potentially powerful states such as Iraq and Iran could be partitioned between their rival ethnic and sectarian communities.


Comment:

Writing from within, Jonathan Cook has an unrivalled vantage point for his arguments. It is easy to see why he is labelled an extreme leftist by those whose actions and motives he questions in his books. For an objective and interested reader on the other hand, his books provide insights and enhance understanding.

As I write this review Iran's cleric leaders try to deal with the fallout of the contested elections. In televised "confessions" the western media is blamed for instigating the street protests going into the second week now. What is described as false accusations by the West, - looking into history it is clear that what the clerics fear had happened in Iran in 1953, - bears a deeper meaning for those looking beyond the daily headlines. No one country, politician or point of view (or journalist) can accurately convey even a small measure of objectivity on the whole spectrum of events (historical and present). We should be grateful to writers who present to us their inside knowledge the way they experience it, without demanding omniscience. Yes, we also must oppose Islamic fundamentalism, which is only a symptom of the problem, but we must have the courage to confront one of the root causes nurturing Islamic fundamentalism today, - the enslavement of a whole people. "Israel and the clash of civilisations" focuses on Israel and its allies motives. It is a book that will deepen an objective readers understanding of a very complex issue. What more can one ask for?

depends on your point of view
obviously a subject as contentious as israel's influence in the world today is going to polarize opinions. I thought it was a great book which illuminated the roots of a lots of the world's problems. recommended reading.