Ask HN: Books to understand the Arab Israeli situation | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Books to understand the Arab Israeli situation

4 pointsjimnotgym10 comments

I follow the news as much as the next man, but what deeper reading can you suggest that would help make sense of what is going on? I am asking HN because I want a balanced and analytical take.

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The best source are cross referencing history books I am afraid. Although reconstructing all events is difficult and time consuming. There are players from all over the world involved and it has to include major conflicts like the Gulf- and Iraq wars and of course the world wars to be able to reconstruct the ambitions and motives of different factions. That is the minimum, you can also go back into the early 19th century because the political landscape of that time is important too. Ottoman empire, rebellion in Egypt, land feudalism (important for the history how land and people were bought and traded that has an influence even today). An overall very interesting story were it not for the bloody conflicts.

Then also having an understanding how years of conflict influence perspectives, when rocket attacks become something "normal" or how the contrast between prosperous and poor can be quite close together.

Some say the conflict is complex, but in the end it comes down to the usual human conflict where factions are entrenched. A conflict about land claims and who belongs to which group. A religious component is there, but I don't believe it to be too relevant.

I don't know where I got most knowledge from, we had an extensive education about that part of history. Some school books are a good introduction for that matter.

A lot of people dying on execution of orders given by few leaders.

This is all around.

There is no justification that gives Justice to these atrocious crimes against humanity that have and continue to take place both ways.

Leaders should be made to fight on front lines.

And which books would help me understand that?

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (1929)

War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges (2002)

I have read the first, but not the second. I don't think either would help me with this conflict

Le Souffle du Jasmin by Gilbert Sinoue has been recommended to me but he writes in French and I haven’t found an English translation.

The Arabs - A History by Eugene Rogan. This is not about the conflict but a history of the Arabs.

This is a very readable book. Although it has been criticized as being more sympathetic towards the Arab point of view, it does a good job of explaining the historical background as well as the events.

Ten Myths About Israel by Ilan Pappé.

Balanced? He's an expat Israeli Jewish Historian, who is not welcome in Israel.

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