Finally, a book written by insiders in regard to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Certainly a rare find. This book is actually a compilation of papers/essays/letters written by numerous authors all of Israeli Jewish decent. Noted authors include Uri Avnery who fought in the '48 war and served in the Knesset, Ishai Menuchin who is a Major the Israel Defense Forces reserves, Dr. Yigal Shochat who served as a fighter pilot in the Israeli Air Force during the War of Attrition, as well as numerous well-known and published professors of Political Science, all of whom teach at universities across Israel.

The book subverts many myths about Israeli politics in the OPT, but it does not do so in a black and white manner as so many other books do. It is a critical analyses of how certain decisions by those in power are creating a threat not only to Israeli citizens within Israel proper, but also a to Israel's democracy itself. This book criticizes key flaws in Israeli politics in regard to the Palestinian issue and provides solutions in their place; rather than simply attack Israel for all it's worth.

In addition to the logical, critical, thought-provoking, Jewish-perspective information this book provides, it also serves to effectively undermine anti-Semitic attitudes towards Israel. Many other books simply criticize Israel without providing alternate solutions given from Israeli Jewish perspectives.. those types of books end up in the hands of some anti-Semites who use the text (most often taken out of context) as metaphorical ammunition. This book is no such source for such idiocy.

To criticize one's own government is nothing new, but to do so in such a well-articulated manner, without ostracizing 1000s of years of Jewish culture, and all the while defending democracy while putting your public reputation on the line is not only genius; it's heroic. Read this book!

A book that challenges so much that one hears about the "justice" of Israel occupying Palestinian land is an important, necessary book. Although the title makes somewhat grandiloquent claims on the part of its individual writers (there is no risk whatsoever to these people, in terms of social position or even income, in writing these articles), it is important for Americans to hear other perspectives coming from Israel. Most of the articles are worth reading, although Anthony Lewis's contribution to the volume unfortunately shows his characteristic clunky prose and banality of polemic. But that is a minor quibble to make. This is a fine book.

I have read many great books that adequately cover the Israel-Palestine conflict, but this is one that achieves a high position on my list of books for those who also want an intro to the topic. Besides the fact that it thoroughly covers and exposes many myths, it also does it from an Israeli perspective, hence perhaps removing discomfort of anyone who might be tempted to read some truth but question it's source.

The book absoutely redefines Pro-Israel as something that is tied together with Pro-Palestine. The two are intertwined. What the American media projects as "Pro-Israeli" is really in the worst interest of both the Palestinians AND the Israelis and the book covers this quite well.

The book is split up into sections dealing with the rise of the conflict, escalation and so on. For example, a section is dedicated to purely military dissidents (very brave men) who speak out against crimes that they may have been forced to help once.

All in all, this book is recommended to the nth degree.

it's been a long time since i read a book written in stream-of-consciousness, and when i picked up and started this book, i realized
that i'd attempted to read it before and, i guess, just hadn't been in the mood to attempt it at some previous time. i'm glad i persisted.

the immediacy of the 14-year-old main character's experiences is visceral and moving. the book is described as a [...] it is also a sometimes erotic, often comic, and almost always relentlessly intriguing word picture of a painfully excised slice-of-life on glaring display. the 14-year-old's confusion, and his labyrynthine interior exploration for the causes of the effects he sees so keenly (effects which are described vividly and sympathetically) open understanding to the reader. grossman is masterful.

Grossman is on of the best Israeli novelist of the modern ages. This is a beautiful, beautiful description of growing up. Take this book and a day off, because you wouldn't let it leave your hands. One of the best books I've ever read.

A young boy named Aaron struggles to get away from the things in his life that appall him the most: food, his family, girls(with one exception), and the war. With his over-self-reflection Aaron is dragged into his own world of masochism and special words saved like pennies in a jar for rainy days. He is a boy that is mixed up and not so mixed up. He composes the child that we have all been for at least one moment in time. He is the future, he has been part of the past, and he is ageless while still being locked within an age

In an April 1995 essay entitled "Yes, Prime Minister", included in this collection David Grossman wrote that the peace process between the Israelis and the Palestinians was "reversible", meaning it could be destroyed. He then went on to lay out the 3 the things that could destroy it:

1.Arafat becomes inactive or irrelevant.
2.The Likud party comes to power.
3.The peace process is constantly interrupted by violence.

As we know now, all these things have come to pass. How prophetic this collection of essays becomes. They have been collected from publications all over the world dating from the September 1993 hopes of the Oslo Summit to the most recent, an article from September 2002 and the almost hopelessness of the 10 year old Intifada.

Grossman's essays cover different topics but they all come down to the ongoing conflict in Israel between the paranoid Israelis and the downtrodden and vengeful Palestinians. Well, he doesn't exactly stereotype them this way but he comes close. He paints Israel as a country of Jews that has suffered hostility and persecution over so many centuries that has bred in them a fear of being exterminated or of being caught up in a new diaspora where they are cast off their land. So any time they feel threatened they respond with overwhelming brutality. A sort of post-trauma of a whole nation. Ironically, the Palestinians find themselves in the same situation as the Jews once did. They are persecuted for their race, for their beliefs, for their wanting of a homeland.

One of the big points in the book that I wondered about also was that where are the MODERATE representatives of both sides? Why do we always see these gun toting [people] and fat cat politicians raving up violence and venegence? Are the sane people in this conflict simply cowards? I know they exist! Where is a great leader on either side who could step up and unite their people??? It's like Hitler vs. Stalin all over again. Why doesn't the Likud and Hamas just join forces and declare war against the rest of the Jews and Palestinians?It just seems the people in power are simply there to draw more blood.

Another point that Grossman makes in his essays is that both peoples need to realize that their survival depends on the peace they make between each other. Decades more war will only lead to their children becoming bloodthirsty savages who know how to make war and kill but know nothing of living together...

I think everyone should read this book because even though it is written by an Israeli it tries to keep a balance and look at both sides of the conflict. He understands that there can be no peace without the absence of oppression. Grossman shows his fear of a future of war but never loses sight of a possible peace.

The only negative aspect of his culture that he shows is in an essay called "Point of No Return" in which he argues against the right of return of the Palestians who were thrown off their land when Israel was first constituted back in the 40s. He beleives that there cannot be a single state for both peoples. He believes that they can only be proper states if they are culturally pure. Meaning only Jews can rule Jews and Palestinians can rule Palestinians. We must not pollute the fatherland with the impure. There are certain racists who would agree with him who think that way. In the end, Grossman's enlightened viewpoint can only go so far. We are all a prisoner in the end to our culture.

After reading this book, and hearing about the continued idiocy of the conflict on the news every single day, I wish the state of Israel had never been formed, I mean at least after World War II. They never fought for their independence. It was given to them by the United States in what would seem to be the Last Crusade. Freeing the holy land and all that. It was formed in an act of pity and we have been paying for it as Americans ever since by acts of terrorism and ill will from Arab countries and will continue to suffer for our wrongheaded alliance with them. I really don't think we would have a terrorism problem or be hated with such vehemence if Israel didn't exist. If you look back over time, most muslim rulers were very tolerant of the Jews and Christians who came to the holy land. Because really, in the end we worship the same God. It's only the details we kill each other for. Perhaps, that is the saddest thing about the whole deal. That they all kill each other in the name of the same God.

Full of empathy, insight and a necessary dose of incredulousness, Grossman is one of the most important writers on this tragic subject. Death as a Way of Life is also particularly relevant for Americans who want to know what life under terror feels like.

David Grossman, a very gifted Israeli author, portrays the fragile line that separates the Israeli from the Palestinians in the occupied territories. But this is far more than a political story. Here, an old Arab, while demanding withdrawal from the land held by the Israelis, loves the Jewish soldier he has captured and threatened to kill. And the soldier returns this love with a delicate sense of respect. Fraught with diverse emotions, humor and insights, this book examines the moral ambiguities and human dilemmas that confront the Israelis on a daily basis,never shaking their lengthy history with the land.

David Grossman, a very gifted Israeli author, portrays the fragile line that separates the Israelis from the Palestinians in the occupied territories. But this is far more than a political story. Here, an old Arab, while demanding withdrawal from the land held by the Iaraelis,comes to love the Jewish soldier he has captured and threatened to kill. And the soldier returns this love with a delicate sense of respect. Fraught with diverse emotions, humor and insights, this book examines the moral ambiguities and human dilemmas that confront the Israelis on a daily basis and never shaking their lengthy history with the land.

If you're working in the IR industry, or want to develop software in this field, this book is a great starting point.

This collection lets you buy all 5 books from the series with a low price. The books are in full color and is comprehensive. You will learn how to make dazzling text and web effects together with other practical techniques that will sizzle up your web page. Best practical books I seen

Each of the Novellas has a protagonist of unusual proportions, attempting to find something just slightly beyond himself or herself. While being a part of contemporary fiction, there is a certain historical perspective such as the disposed, wandering Jew of Aharon Appelfeld's "The Isles of St. George." Almost alone on this island, he wants to forget Europe, Israel,and his past. One of the most interesting characters in my opinion is Yani in David Grossman's "Yani on the Mountain." Here is a soldier left to oversee a mountain after the war of 1973. The mountain becomes a support, a challenge, something to be overcome, but his friend confronts him, "Hiding uphere on the mountain--armoring himself with hostility and contempt. Afraid. Afraid.." Benjamin Tammuz has one brother living his life vicariously through watching his brother's life unfold in a near-by house. "The Brother" is a thoughtful tale of envy, suppressed love, and hatred. In Yaakov Shabtai's "Uncle Peretz Takes Flight", a zany Jewish communist wants to save the world (which he doesn't even like very much), attending meetings during the day and coming home to climb up on the roof in preparation for flight. Altogether, this is a wonderful collection of stories.

Though I read it in the Hebrew, the story was so rich and intriguing that the translation sure transmits the wonder and excitement of this book. Through style and story, Zizag Kid is a success.

Just thought I'd point out that the kid's name is actually Nono... (I read the book in hebrew..)

you could get in touch with DG via the Guardian newspaper in London. I know it has an anti-Israel image in israel, but that's a crock. Anyone who knows DGs work knows he would never involve himself with an anti-Israel paper. (he writes for them regularly).

Incidentally, the myth of Israel being a target of the Guardian has been propogated by Conrad Blacks' Jerusalem Post. Black owns the Guardian's competition in the UK - coincidence?

Black also is one of those messianic christians who is busy befriending jews until the day he and his chums expect Jesus to rise again - when one third of all jews will convert and the other two thirds will be "forced into the see". Who is the real friend of the Israeli people I ask...

Grossman has changed my life totally. Because of him (particularly 'See under: love') I have even been learning Hebrew. There was something about this book though that made me leave it on the shelf - dunno what, maybe the cover, some inbuilt snobbiness about a book about children - and it stayed there for years. More fool me...

I started it and didn't stop until the last page. Absolute perfection. Possibly the most uplifting read I have ever read, and I always had a snidy pessimistic view towards sentimentality. Again, more fool me...

This cat's like a personal tutor to me, and I cannot imagine life without his (and Nabokov - my other fave's) books.

....

One of the best novels I have ever read. Don't miss it!

As an Israeli who have read it in Hebrew, I would like to add a few words. One thing: this book is entirely different if you read it in Hebrew. It losses a lot in the translation, and not because the translation is bad, rather that the combination of different layers of very special Hebrew combined with Yiddish, along with the cultural context, makes it a book that is an impossible mission for the translator. Of course, you can't ask someone to learn Hebrew just for this book (and this still won't be enough, because he has to be born again as an Israeli and grow up here to understand everything...), but the book has numerous universal aspects that can be translated, and it's still, even after the translation, a must-read.
And now, for the book itself (if there is such a thing the book itself...).
This is by-far the greatest Israeli book that I have ever read. I had one feeling that went along with me throughout the journey: I don't know how the hell he did. I just don't know. Like a magician that makes a trick you just can't figure. The scope. The depth. I cannot describe this book. It defies space and time. It is a masterpiece.

It was hard to read this novel. Grossman presents us with mysteries and references that require both faith and patience -- they are amply rewarded. Part of what delays the intrepid reader is the time required just to absorb, to make connections, to take deep breaths, to sob. The horror and disgust that one expects in a holocaust novel are there, but what pulls us up short are the compassion and, yes, love that emerge in the most unlikely places. It would be no help to read a synopsis of this book or to have a guide to its mysteries, because you read it in your heart and in the aqueous subconscious. Reading is always an act of love, a tryst of imagination with the writer. When it really goes well, when the miracle occurs, a child, a book is produced between them. It hovers luminously in the aether - real, profound, fleeting. See Under: Love invites us to into that relationship, helps us visualize it, and transforms our sense of what this world really is. There is plenty to study, learn, and analyze in Mr. Grossman's incredible work, but my first reading was a sacred experience. This book sat on my shelf for about eleven years. I gave a first edition of it to a young man obsessed with the holocaust who died a year later of a mysterious disease. I thought picking it up would mean acknowledging his absence - instead it reassured me of his presence. Prepare to be surprised.