Reddit Reddit reviews A History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Indiana Series in Arab and Islamic Studies)

We found 4 Reddit comments about A History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Indiana Series in Arab and Islamic Studies). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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Middle East History
Israel & Palestine History
A History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Indiana Series in Arab and Islamic Studies)
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4 Reddit comments about A History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Indiana Series in Arab and Islamic Studies):

u/[deleted] · 9 pointsr/SubredditDrama

Fortunately (unfortunately?) all things SRS and LGBT and other acronym soup have recently piled up so much feces as to obscure the fact that anything even remotely involving "Israel" on reddit is a sure-fire dramabomb.

It's like when I was at college - this is a story I never tire of telling. We had two big high profile student groups involved in the issue - the Muslim Student Union and the Israel Action Committee.

Now, thanks to a fairly international upbringing and education, I have a lot of friends, both Jewish and Muslim, both Israeli and Arab or specifically Palestinian. Of all the ones whom I have ever seen or heard get in a debate about something concerning Israeli-Arab relations, only one single person was a jerk about it. The rest were civil, informed, reasonable, and generally just sad about the whole kerfuffle - the general consensus seemed to be that the people at fault were the kinds of idiots who get into ragefests about the topic on reddit.

But the IAC and MSU were different - there was a big gate to campus, and they regularly set up their propaganda tables at either side of it, meeting in the middle to literally scream at each other, all fucking day long, while people tried to walk around them on their way to / from class (it didn't help that Dave the Converted Zionist Jewish Christian I-have-no-fucking-clue Preacher Guy would routinely walk around just behind them shouting GARBLEGARBLEGODGARBLERELIGIONRELIGIONGARBLE YISHUUAAAAAAAAA! while skipping and holding aloft a bible, inevitably followed by five or six students, holding up their physics textbooks and also skipping. I swear, the guy was never fazed, but it did add some color to the IAC/MSU screamingfests.) These people would regularly wage propaganda wars on campus, via badly photoshopped pics of Hamas or Israeli soldiers doing unspeakable, even improbable things to each other.

I had a class around that time, about the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, taught by an extremely even-handed, reasonable Israeli professor (kudos to [Mark Tessler's excellent book on the subject]http://www.amazon.com/History-Israeli-Palestinian-Conflict-Indiana-Islamic/dp/0253208734) if you're interested). He was balanced, cautious, and informative. He also, unfortunately, had to deal with a lecture hall that was 1/3 IAC freaks, 1/3 MSU freaks, and 1/3 the rest of us.

The former two blocs inevitably took up their seats on different sides of the auditorium, and woe betide the poor uninvolved fool who didn't crowd up against the back exits. Because every single day that I can recall, at some point during the lecture, a hand would shoot up from one of the two angrygroups, belonging to some scowling kid, who'd ask an extremely provocative question ("bla bla bla HITLER bla bla") that the prof would struggle and sputter to answer. He shouldn't even have bothered, because at that point, it was all lost. The other side would erupt in angry protests, followed by the questioner's buddies, and the classroom would just erupt in pandemonium as the usual irrational crap flew back and forth, angry recriminations and accusations and every single shitty debate fallacy you can imagine coming from red-faced ranting fanatics.

At that point, you had 3 choices:

  • leave
  • do your homework against the melodious backdrop of INCREDIBLY ANGRY PEOPLE SHOUTING AT EACH OTHER A LOT
  • popcorn

    Because, for all intents and purposes, the class was over.

    Oh Israel, you are such wonderful dramafuel.
u/davidreiss666 · 2 pointsr/history

On an older thread DonutsCureCancer recommended A History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.

Setting aside his claims about the magical properties of donuts, the ol'chap does seem to normally know what he is talking about.

u/Adzmodean · 1 pointr/melbourne

I don't claim to be any better. And yes, I ignore issues that I can't change in order to concentrate on the things I can. Yes, it's a tragedy, but it's partly of their own making, and completely outside the realm of my control. I have this book on my shelf and while I've only read it the once several years ago, I consider myself to have enough of an idea about the situation to make the informed choice to stay out of it.

Yes protests involving 100+ plus people loudly chanting slogans in small confined areas make me uncomfortable, but not because of the content, but because they're doing it in an entirely inappropriate place. Would a Jewish person wearing a yarmulke feel comfortable walking through that small passageway? I'd say no, and when your lawful actions start to impinge on the freedoms of others, then we start to have an issue.

Can you imagine if some negative element of the crowd (over which the organisers have no control) threw something at the police who then responded with pepper-spray? It's ripe for a trample situation and that's what makes me feel uncomfortable. There's a Max Brenners in South Melbourne on a street corner that's nice and open, and low risk to passers-by. That's a far more suitable place to protest.

u/dmiff · 1 pointr/politics

>I didnt say we do all the fighting for them. I said we are the bouncer.

and that they were a 5 year old, implying that they are defenseless. Your metaphor is still crap.

>If isreal was attacked by Iran, would we then attack Iran? How can you say that us being the strongest ally that Israel has doesnt effect the region? If we backed out and said we no longer supported Israel, they would be obliterated within the year. The other countries would take back the land that was theirs before Israel took it and we backed them. Is this not true? Is this not a logical deduction?

Yes, it does seem likely that Israel would be attacked if we abandoned them. It does not follow that they would lose.

It also would not be good for the US to abandon Israel. Remember what I said about saying one thing and doing another? Our friends will trust us less and our enemies will see it as weakness. Its not a simple situation, we cannot just walk away.

>If there is a toy shared by the class right...

You are misrepresenting the history of the region. Its not as simple as "The Jews walked in one day and took over Palestine" There is history there. Neither side is the innocent victim you want to portray the Palestinians as. A Peace to End All Peace has a lot of good info about the creation of the modern middle east. If you want more detail (or a replacement for your sleeping pills) try A History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.

>I am saying that if we left Israel to sort out their own issues, we would be left alone. There would be no reason to attack us. How is that logic flawed?

There are more issues that drive terrorism than just our support for Israel.

>We lead the world in nothing at this point

Nothing? Why do people want to come here to work then? They must just like hamburgers and SUVs.

>There are times when yes, a war is justifed. However, it again should be the last resort at all costs.

Agree.

>I think sometimes the situations are made to be more complicated than they need to be. Israel was not a country. The area was occupied by palestinians. Israel moves them out, moves in and we back them.

Too simplified. Jews->Arabs->Crusaders->Arabs->Ottoman Empire->WWI->British. Under the British, before the Jews moved back in, land was owned by wealthy Arab landlords and worked by the Arab tenants. As more and more Jews moved in the trend was for them to pool their money and buy land from the landlords. The landlords make some huge profits, but this displaced the Arab tenants who lost their homes and their jobs, which fuels resentment already growing due to British rule. The Jews haven't really done anything wrong, they are just guilty of not being very neighborly or charitable. Arabs riot, some Arabs kill some Jews, some Jews kill some Arabs, the Brits don't do a very good job of keeping the peace. Jews wage asymmetric war (bombings, sabotage) against the Brits. Brits give up and turn to the UN for a solution. UN says two states Jews and Arabs. Arabs say no. UN says too bad. Israel says we are an independent country. Israel's Arab neighbors attack. In the villages Palestinians leave, some expecting to come back after the Arab states are victorious, some scared off by Israeli neighbors telling them that their safety cannot be guaranteed. Israel wins, and keeps the territory it gained. Off and on wars, the rise of Palestinian terrorism. The Jews haven't treated the Arabs entirely fairly, the Arabs haven't treated the Israelis entirely fairly. Pretty far from "The Jews stole Israel".

>This understandably has upsset, well pretty much everyone one in the region. Then we call them terrorists for wanting what was theirs. They dont want anything above, just what they originally had.

I call them terrorists because they target civilians. The Israelis' hands aren't spotless, but at least they aren't targeting markets, buses, and schools. I would have a lot less to say if they only targeted Israeli military, but they go after the civilian targets first.

>Do different countries advance at different rates? Again yes.

Of course, but does that mean you cannot pass judgment on their culture and customs?