Blaming the Victims: Spurious Scholarship and the Palestinian Question

I chose this rating because I felt this book should be read by anyone interested in politics or international affairs. It was factual and explained in detail how people have been deceived by the media and governments. The language is fairly heavy going but well worth struggling through and one can get the main meaning of the sentiments expressed in this book. This book is for anyone who wants to know the truth and feels that being part of a democracy means representation of the individual and not a plutocracy where the voice of the people is ignored. The Palestinians have endured much oppression because of ignorant policies and people should know the truth. Christopher Hitchens to my knowledge has never put his name to anything that is not true. World leaders should read this book.

This is one of the smartest books I've ever read, and I've read a lot of books.

This is an excellent book. Edward Said, in a collection of material, demolishes the scholarship of hate as practiced in Israel. That scholarship reached its absurd peak when Israelis started writing books to prove that Palestinians simply didn't exist and were never a majority in what is now Israel and occupied territories. What Said misses is that in the end, the stupidity and basic lie of the scholarship has only led to damage the Israeli cause internationally. In essence, its a self-destructive activity. The only consumers of it being Bible Belt Christians Conservatives in the rural and southern united states and at best the fringe of the right wing in Israel.Do what they might, they can't undo the basic reality that the first census conducted after the creation of palestine showed a population of over 600,000 non-jews and 83,000 jews. And every other census before and after shows a stable and growing palestinian population over time. So what can they do when the basic facts are so firmly against their claims? They go to "scholarly works" like the travel accounts of Mark Twain to prove that the land was utterly empty until they arrived.The true reason for all this scholarship in the end is to justify Israel's actions in expelling palestinians by force in 1948 during the war. Its well documented that in 1948 that even the villages the palestinians had lived in were erased with dynamite so that no trace of the homes of those who had lived in what is now Israel for centuries would remain.The other purpose behind the scholarship is to prepare Israel mentally to accept the preferred solutions of the far right to the problem of palestinians. That solution is "transfer". Rounding them up in trucks and pushing them over the border into other countries. To prepare people for that step, its necessary to have a record of scholarship to "prove" that these people have no association with Israel and are just arab migrants who can be dumped anywhere.From the book, its possible to learn the worst of the Israeli scholars like Joan Peters. Its then possible by looking at how seriously the scholarly fraud written by Joan Peters is treated to seperate out real Israeli historians with credibility from those who are unethical political operatives.The problem of recognition of the reality of both Israel and Palestinians is core to peace. As palestinians had to accept Israel's existance, that there was no going back to 1947, so too must israelis discard the nonsense scholarship produced that aims to prove that Palestinians are not a people, have no history and do not exist.Reality isn't to be found in the census of 1830, reality is that there is a large population of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza today that Israel can neither expell nor absorb. Everyone knows what the solution is going to be and its going to be international compensation for Palestinian refugees for their losses and an independent state of Palestine in the occupied territories.

Bad binding, loose pages… book is falling apart!!! Consumers should use caution when purchasing from this seller!!!

By way of introduction, the obvious cannot be overstressed here, namely that Israel is the occupier and therefore the aggressor while the Palestinians are the occupied and therefore the victims. Paradoxically, this fact is hardly ever even taken into consideration by western politicians, thus ignoring the fundamental element of the conflict. Needless to say, attempting to solve this conflict without differentiating between the aggressor (Israel) and the victimized (the Palestinians) will never lead to permanent peace. According to Said, understanding the root causes of the extremist movements in the Palestine is crucial. People turn to extreme measures when in extreme despair and agony. Surely, no one chooses to blow himself in the air when happy and contented with life. Instead, it is in situations in which people see no other way out but to resort to terrorist actions. Needless to say, understanding why terrorism exists does not mean that it is justifiable and morally acceptable. On the contrary, violence is never a solution to any problem. Instead, it can only further aggravate matters. Killing innocent people is always wrong and morally reprehensible. Said further claims that Israeli government mainly consists of extremists and fundamentalists. This is never mentioned in mainstream media; the sole focus is on Islamic fundamentalists. Western politicians never ask themselves the fundamental question: why does terrorism emerge? Said recognizes a number of factors, the most important of which are injustice, poverty, subjugation, inferiority and discrimination. Thus, terrorism is not a result of justice and equality. Israel commits terrorist actions every day and violates international law but no one condemns nor criticizes Israeli government. Instead, the U.S. gives a billion dollar aid to Israel even though Israel is being accused of belligerent and merciless war waging against the Palestinians. As Said puts it, how is it that Israel can remain so extremely powerful among one billion Muslims? The answer to that question is readily apparent to those who disbelieve the mainstream media.

This is an excellent and must read on the conflict, but it is very academic, I should warn you. It reads like a textbook rather than human interest, so it is hard to get into, but it is worth the trouble.This is a great explanation of the often neglected Palestinian point of view. The Israeli position is always well supported, understood and explained in our media and government; you will be a step ahead of the majority by reading this book since you will know both sides.In a world where criticism of Israel = anti-Semitism, you have to do yourself a favor and read this book!

Excellent and informative. Provides the Palestinian perspective so sadly missing in Western Mainstream media. Gives historical and contemporary context to current realities.

Thank you for an excellent service, book arrived quickly, very interesting but had to wait til my glasses arrived as type so small it made my eyes swim, maybe a fatter book with bigger type would be a good idea! Anything with the Hitch on the cover is worth reading

Emotive topics can never be resolved by presenting factual information and unbiased reasoning.Beliefs trump reason and emotions bludgeon intelligence,almost always.

Very good condition

An interesting read I'm sure, but the print is so small that I will struggle to get through it. The authors deserve better than this as do the readers who have paid good money for this