Literature

NOVANEWS  BOOK REVIEW   by Asmahan Jerusalem is the universal city, the capital of two peoples, the shrine of three faiths; it is the prize of empires, the site of Judgement Day and the battlefield of today’s clash of civilizations. From King David to Barack Obama, from the birth of Judaism, Christianity and Islam to the Israel-Palestine conflict, this is the epic history of three thousand years of faith, slaughter, fanaticism and coexistence. How did this small, remote town become the Holy City, the “center of the world” and now the key to peace in the Middle East? In a gripping narrative, Simon Sebag Montefiore reveals this ever-changing city in its many incarnations, bringing every epoch and character blazingly to life. Jerusalem’s biography is told through the wars, love affairs ...

NOVANEWS Asa Winstanley  The Electronic Intifada After the Nakba, Israel’s 1948 ethnic cleansing operations, only approximately 160,000 Palestinians were left within the borders of what became Israel. Their numbers grew to 600,000 by the mid-1980s (152), and to about 1.2 million today. They struggled for Israeli citizenship, and won the right to vote in the Knesset (Israel’s parliament), but were kept under the thumb of strict military rule until 1966. Thanks partly to the growing international notoriety of their representatives and activists (such as current and former members of the Knesset Haneen Zoabi and the exiled Azmi Bishara) in recent years there has been more attention paid to the situation of these Palestinians. But in the western solidarity movement, there is still...

NOVANEWS By As'ad AbuKhalil Angry Corner Gilbert Achcar’s book, The Arabs and the Holocaust, is a very good study of the subject of Arab attitudes toward the Holocaust. First, I must confess that Achcar and I engaged in a lengthy intellectual/political duel on the pages of al-Akhbar newspaper in Lebanon. Our debate was related to the subject of his study. My disagreements with him did not dissipate with the reading of this book. But Achcar’s study is very interesting and very well-researched and effective in its arguments — or many of them. The author clearly spent time examining the sources and honestly comparing and verifying evidence. If there is a criticism of the sources it is that the book was far from being based on an “exhaustive survey of Arabic sources,” as Eugen Rogan says ...

GILAD ATZMON I love those  interviews with Rinaldo. The man is extremely clever and very knowledgeable about the conflict. He then takes his time and produces pretty amazing clips. We spoke  about the Palestinian UN bid, Jewish Diaspora vs. Israel, TWW, Jeffrey Goldberg Vs John Mearsheimer and more..   The Wandering Who-A Study of Zionist and Hasbara tactics   Amazon.com  or Amazon.co.uk

NOVANEWS David Cronin  The Electronic Intifada  Earlier this year, Israel’s embassy in Brussels resorted to moral blackmail in trying to muzzle debate about Palestine. It complained about how some members of the European Parliament held a video conference with representatives of Hamas on the same day as an event commemorating the Holocaust (“Israel’s Mission to the EU intimidates critics saysINFORM,” International Forum on the Middle East, 8 February 2011). Perhaps the best riposte to the embassy (or “mission,” to use its formal title) would have been to send it a copy of “On Israel and bombing,” a statement written by Bertrand Russell shortly before his death in 1970. “We are frequently told, ‘We must sympathize with Israel because of the suffering of the Jews in Europe at the ha...

NOVANEWS  by Eileen Fleming Many American Christian Evangelicals interpreted the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 and the return of the Jews to the Hebrews ancient homeland as a precondition for the Second Coming of Christ. Millions of Americans believe in the theology espoused in the “Left Behind” series of novels that chronicle apocalyptic times set in the 21st century that winds up in Israel where, according to the author’s understanding of the Book of Revelation, the final battle in the world will be fought on an ancient battlefield called Armageddon. These literalists believe that war will be followed by seven years of global tribulation before Jesus returns to begin a 1,000-year rule on earth; but the Jews and all others who do not believe Jesus is God will be annihilated. The...

NOVANEWS  BOOK REVIEW From one of our most renowned historians, Civilization is the definitive history of Western civilization’s rise to global dominance-and the “killer applications” that made this improbable ascent possible. The rise to global predominance of Western civilization is the single most important historical phenomenon of the past five hundred years. All over the world, an astonishing proportion of people now work for Western-style companies, study at Western-style universities, vote for Western-style governments, take Western medicines, wear Western clothes, and even work Western hours. Yet six hundred years ago the petty kingdoms of Western Europe seemed unlikely to achieve much more than perpetual internecine warfare. It was Ming China or Ottoman Turkey that had the look ...

NOVANEWS  A book review by Gilad Atzmon     Jewish Identity and Palestinian Rights: The Growth of Diaspora Jewish Opposition to Israel  by David Landy David Landy, an Irish-Jewish academic and a Palestinian solidarity activist has written a book about Jewish Identity and Jewish dissent in the Diaspora.  The book,  published on 7th July 2011, was largely ignored by most pro-Palestinian outlets and dissident journals. Almost four months later, Landy’s book was re-launched by JFJFP (Jews for Justice for Palestinians), in the hope, presumably, that it might divert attention from my own The Wandering Who. Following the JFJFP’s enthusiastic endorsement, I was looking forward to reading Landy’s book, expecting to find, for the first time, some arguments that may counter my own take on Jewis...

NOVANEWS Some of my loyal readers have noticed that I have not blogged for a long time, almost a month. I should explain. I am now the Director of one of the largest university Jewish Studies programs in the country, and I have no time for anything "extra-curricular" as I learn how to do my job in the best manner possible. I am also working in my almost non-existent spare time on an article for a book entitled, After Zionism. (My chapter is tentatively entitled, "Zionism After Israel". I have decided that Israeli Post-Zionism is soooo 1980's, and that it is now the time for Zionist Post-Israelism.) Much of my writing has been motivated by moral outrage. But it is hard to keep the story-line fresh if moral outrage is a never ending experience. Whether it is an AP story about how the Gazans ...

NOVANEWS GILAD ATZMON Introduction by Gilad Atzmon: The following is a brave attempt to locate my criticism of Jewish identity politics and the Israeli Lobby at the heart of contemporary political discourse. Shabana Syed, wrote a very courageous article. Shabana Syed for Salem-News.com http://www.salem-news.com "...it’s also obvious to every person who reads me that there is not a drop of racism, bigotry or anti Semitism in any of my writing." - Gilad Atzmon Courtesy: gilad.co.uk/discography/ (LONDON) - Gilad Atzmon the famous ex Israeli musician, philosopher writer whose new book “The Wandering Who?” has caused fury amongst pro Israel groups is no stranger to controversy; a few months ago he caused a stir when Sheikh Raed Salah a respected figure amongst Arab Israelis vis...