{DOWNLOAD} Cursed Victory: a History of Israel and the Occupied
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CURSED VICTORY: A HISTORY OF ISRAEL AND THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Ahron Bregman | 416 pages | 12 Jun 2015 | Penguin Books Ltd | 9780141017235 | English | London, United Kingdom Book Review – Cursed Victory: A History of Israel and the Occupied Territories | Middle East Centre Drawing on this previous work and clandestine research style, Cursed Victory unfolds like a tragedy in three acts. Part One sets the scene and details the first decade of Israeli military rule. Part Two of Cursed Victory , like many second acts, focuses on the rise of an erstwhile villain, after elections in brought Menachem Begin to power at the head of a Likud-led coalition for the first time in Israeli history. Bregman draws on classified sources including tapes of Clinton speaking to Hafez al-Assad on the telephone to explain precisely how Barak vacillated between spearheading revived talks and stalling on purpose due to a lack of public support, frustrating everyone involved and facilitating a diplomatic disaster. And this is the underlying crux of Cursed Victory : the issue of blame. This tragedy is definitely a morality tale, in which Bregman asserts that both the Clinton and Bush administrations showed Israel too much deference, allowing the Israeli psyche to opt for continued occupation in the name of security rather than face the hard task of agreeing on a final settlement. His next book on the relationship between Israel and the United States Congress will be eagerly anticipated in this regard. Those hoping for a catalogue of unconventional Israeli tactics, such as the Dahiya Doctrine or policies aimed at decreasing Palestinian fertility, will be sorely disappointed. Ultimately, the author provides a beautifully written page-turner, full of interesting details, anecdotes and revelations, complete with a reasonably healthy dose of unsubstantiated opinion that leaves the reader wanting more — especially a happy ending. Very much enjoyed this review. Your email address will not be published. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. I'm sure certain things will have a consensus I would love to meet someone who currently believes that the Oslo accords were helpful but so many topics will have very different narratives. A book on the Israeli- Palestinian conflict has to include this because people create their opinions based on their feelings on the intifada and Camp David. As I see it, being educated about the conflict means being aware of the perspectives of people and why they think the way they do. For that, we simply can't have books that don't acknowledge enough. We need to hear more voices, more ideas, more thoughts. One clean cut narrative just isn't going to cut it. I came across as more defensive of Israel than I usually am and somewhat more critical than I'd like to be. This book does a fantastic job at showing the way the early generations of Israelis had tons of contempt and racism towards the Palestinians and how that impacted their policies. It manages to show the terrible results of Israeli indecision. This book doesn't devlve deep enough into Israeli Arabs and what they feel but the parts that did deal with it managed to grasp the way the Israeli society has entirely disappointed these people. Unfortunately, that's still a huge issue, even in When I read this book, I was overwhelmed to see all of the failures of the peace process. It felt like it could never work because there are so many elements and ultimately, the diplomacy that's involved strikes me as hypocritical and egoistic. It's not harmonious or authentic so how can we ever expect a peace process forced on us to work? However, and it's on this note that I will end this review, even if it seems like every peace process will fail, I want us all to remember that there's an organization in Jerusalem that gathered leavened food from Passover and donated it to families in need in East Jerusalem cause they can eat leavened stuff on Passover. There's an organization that exchanges Hebrew and Arabic in the Old City of Jerusalem weekly and you can see the way bridges can exist. My lecturer from Political Science says that when you are in the Old City and you hear all the sounds of prayer, it sounds like they're competing. You hear the bells from churches and the songs from synagogues and the muezzins all together but to me, it's always sounded like they're harmonizing. We've got to remember that this conflict is about people and therefore, books like this are misleading, precisely because they attempt to showcase a cold historical narrative when in reality, there's so much more that's going on and should be heard. All in all, wow, this might be one of the longest reviews I've ever written. If you've read this far, I seriously congratulate and thank you. This book isn't it, I might take a bit of a break from reading about the conflict now but I will definitely keep looking for the book that I can safely recommend about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or eventually write it by myself. What I'm taking With Me - The Oslo accords were started by civilians and even if they ended fairly badly, I'm still very impressed by their existence. View all 3 comments. He explains the various policies and adjustments that were made in these areas as a result of, and during, the occupations. He also delves into the rather insidious motives behind many of Israel's policies, including those that appear to be benevolent on the surface. Bregman is fairly unsparing towards the Israelis but also seems unimpressed by the decisions of the Palestinian leadership. While groups like Hamas or the PLO are not directly criticized, it is clear that many decisions by Palestinian leadership were poorly calculated and not beneficial to their people. If you are interested in the Israel-Palestine conflict then this is one of the best books to give you an insight into all of its machinations. The author is now an academic but grew up in Israel, served in the army there and had access to most of the key people and key documents associated with the issues surrounding the occupied territories. Astonishingly, this includes tapes made in secret by the Israeli security services of conversations between various US presidents and their advisors during If you are interested in the Israel-Palestine conflict then this is one of the best books to give you an insight into all of its machinations. Astonishingly, this includes tapes made in secret by the Israeli security services of conversations between various US presidents and their advisors during the negotiations with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. The title 'Cursed Victory' sums up the book's conclusions - that Israel should never have hung on to the territory it occupied during the war but should have negotiated a return immediately afterwards. The various negotiations over the years are related in exhaustive detail, which can get tedious, but is often fascinating, if also depressing. Even more depressing are the accounts of the brutality and inhuman treatment of the Palestinians in the occupied territories by the Israeli defence forces. Again the title says it all - showing how reviled Israel has become for its outrageous actions and the book only goes up to so it doesn't include the most recent wars in Gaza. Tragically, we seem further away than ever to a solution to this problem due to the extreme attitudes of the leaders on both side of the conflict who, for their own political purposes, prefer agression and war to any serious attempt to make the compromises that would allow for a negotiated settlement. Aug 20, Sandra rated it really liked it. Ordenado por fechas y por territorios ocupados. Con acceso a conversaciones secretas y privadas. When we read about the Arab-Israeli conflict like so much else in life, the story is far too complex and fraught with truths, half-truths and some outright lies to gain a real understanding of the reality! This book by an Israeli political scientist and author is a specialist on the Arab-Israeli conflict and this book covers the long history of the Occupied Territories since the Six Day War. It debunks an awful lot of myths and is an honest forthright account of affairs between Israel and its When we read about the Arab-Israeli conflict like so much else in life, the story is far too complex and fraught with truths, half-truths and some outright lies to gain a real understanding of the reality! It debunks an awful lot of myths and is an honest forthright account of affairs between Israel and its neighbors. It is full of very factual and until recently secret information that tends to lay the blame for much of the violence of the past 50 years squarely at the feet of both Israel and the Palestinians instead of trying to push it all off on the Palestinians. Israel from the very end of the war has been a major player in the fomenting of violence in their attitudes and use of power during their occupation. They ignored all standards of international law and basically did as they chose. The leadership from the very beginning played the duplicity card constantly saying they would do one thing then reneging on the promises or making such vague promises that they could easily disregard them. Much of the violence was actually instigated by Israeli actions against the Palestinians and like any lopsided power arrangement asymmetrical warfare terrorist tactics, suicide bombings etc.