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Title: Israel: A Colonial-Settler State? by Maxime Rodinson, Peter Buch ISBN: 0-913460-23-0 Publisher: Pathfinder Press Pub. Date: December, 1973 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $11.95

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Average Customer Rating: 4 (8 reviews)

Rating: 1
Summary: The author is unfair
Comment: I am an Egyptian who read the book. Though I have a pro-Arab view of the Middle East conflict, I try to see and understand the other side. I do appreciate the review given by Romeo. I assume he is Jewish, and I was touched by the way he defines Israel; not as a European state, but as a Middle Eastern state that speaks a semitic language. He did indeed convince me that the author is unfair. Many Arabs are unfair to their own people, and this happens some Jews as well, though for sure very rarely, as Jewish people usually help each other.

I never knew Jews as I grew up. My parents told me that they had Jewish neighbors who were thoughtful and considerate; they left for Israel in 1969 after their son was released from prison, wehre he was incarcerated for two years. My parents insist that he was innocent.

If Jews think of their country the way Romeo does, as a Middle Eastern country, then I am very touched and I would accept a Jewish state. I do believe however that the Palestinians should have their state, and the refugees if Israel does not take them back should be properly and generously compensated.

Rating: 1
Summary: A distorted, racist description of Israel
Comment: Calling Israel a colonial settler state is a distortion. It is saying they are alien to the Middle East. Nothing could be further from the truth. For one thing, the population of a colonial settler state speaks a language not native of the region, and generally practices a faith previously unknown to the region, in form or in doctrine. Not only do the Jews of Israel adhere to a faith that is born in the Middle East, but they adhere to the oldest faith in the Middle East still in practice today. They do speak not a colonial language, but a middle Eastern language: Hebrew, a language that probably predates the other middle Eastern languages still spoken today. The closest language to the Arabic language is the Hebrew language, and of all living languages, the closest language to the Hebrew language is the Arabic. So where else should Jews establish a state but in the Middle East, where they once had a state?

A nation with a colonial spirit would never speak a Semitic language, the Israelis do: Hebrew. The colonial population has the mother land to return to. The Israelis have nowhere else to go; they returned to Israel to escape persecution both in Europe and in the Arab world. Those who have no trouble with hatred against Israelis will have not much more trouble with hatred against Jews.

The question of Israel is therefore one of fairness. If there are dozens of countries with a Christian particularity or a Christian majority, and dozen others with a Moslem particularity or a majority, then Zionism stands for the right of Jews to have one country on earth with a Jewish particularity or majority. To refuse to recognize that right is racist, since it is a refusal to accept Jews on equal footing with others. By contrast, supporting Israel means supporting a people who was deprived of a country for two millenia to finally have one.

While the settlements in the West Bank are an issue for some, the issue here is a territorial dispute with the Palestinians, and territorial disputes are everywhere. This issue is conveniently exploited by those who want to spread hostile feelings against Jews and Israel. Such an attitude only perpetuates the Arab Jewish conflict, to the benefit of neither Arabs nor Jews.

That Mr. Rodinson may be Jewish does not make his refusal to accept Israel among the nations any less racist or antisemitic. When a group is opressed and under pressure, the negative image this group suffers can at instances feed back to some of its members. Such members decide then to contribute to the hostility against their own people and articulate the prejudice. Though this phenomenon may be surprising, there are many examples of it. For instance, it is well known that women conspired in their own oppression. Also, it was recently revealed that some of the most virulent anti-gay speeches given by a homophobic leader in the United States, were written by a speech writer who himself is gay. During the era of slavery, some Africans were instrumental in capturing and delivering other Africans.

Rating: 5
Summary: Why the Palestinians fight Israel
Comment: Maxime Rodinson was an independent Marxist scholar and expert on the Middle East who sympathized with the Palestinian cause. When he wrote this book, the Six Days War of 1967 had just ended, with Israel gobbling up the territory of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, territories they occupy to this day. One major war and two intifadas later, the Palestinian people have refused to give up their fight against the Zionist state. Rodinson’s book is still essential reading if you want to understand why Palestinians and other Arab peoples hate the government of Israel. The book does a great job of showing why Israel is essentially a result of colonialism--even with its unique features. And it is especially good at anticipating and answering counter-arguments to this position. This makes it an excellent weapon in the debates over this subject today, as the U.S. is preparing to launch a war with Iraq, which will bring the Palestinian question to the center of world politics.