Israelism

Abstract

The author is an Arab from Jordan who stayed in Israel for a time, learnedHebrew, and became acquainted with the country. As a result, he was able toexamine the Middle East conflict and its dynamics from a relatively objectivepoint of view, as demonstrated in his Israelism. The book consists of fivechapters, preceded by an acknowledgments section and an introduction, andfollowed by an epilogue, a bibliography, and an index. Each chapter has anintroduction and a conclusion, and ends with notes providing references andclarifications. The first four chapters begin with a quote from one or moreprominent personalities (e.g., David Ben-Gurion, Nasser, and Sayyid Qutb).In the “Introduction,” Barari explains what prompted him to write thisbook and provides background information on the Middle East problem; theopinions and approaches of Arab scholars toward Israel; how the outcomeof the Six Day War affected scholarly writing about Israel in, for example,Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon; and the obstacles that prevent objective writingabout Israel. The “Introduction” ends with an explanation of the book’saims and structure ...