New expanded edition of a classic anthropology title that examines ethnicity as a dynamic and shifting aspect of social relations.

New expanded edition of a classic anthropology title that examines ethnicity as a dynamic and shifting aspect of social relations.

As a little boy grows up in Palestine, he has no idea that his mothers unconditional love is already paving the road for his success later in life. When he is thirteen, his hardworking mother suddenly dies, leaving Alghadanfar alone and with no other choice but to attend a military boarding school while his father and his new wife live mostly on charity. Four years later, Alghadanfars life forever changes when his country is occupied by Israel and he is left homeless, seemingly doomed to enter lifes wild arena whether he is ready or not. After the invasion, Alghadanfar escapes on foot with others to the River Jordan in a dangerous journey to reach the only place he knows, his boarding school on the eastern side of the river. As he is led to his first brush with death and onto a new path in life, he must rely on his survival instincts, his mothers shadow, and her prayers to become empowered to overcome the many obstacles that stand in his way.

Before 1967, Israel had the overwhelming support of world opinion. So long as Israel's existence was in harmony with politically correct assumptions, it was supported, or at least accepted, by the majority of "progressive" Jews, especially in the wake of the Holocaust. This is no longer the case. "The Jewish Divide Over Israel" explains the role played by prominent Jews in turning Israel into an isolated pariah nation. After their catastrophic defeat in 1967, Arabs overcame inferiority on the battlefield with superiority in the war of ideas. Their propaganda stopped trumpeting their desire to eradicate Israel. Instead, in a calculated appeal to liberals and radicals, they redefined their war of aggression against the Jews as a struggle for the liberation of Palestinian Arabs. The tenacity of Arabs' rejection of Israel and their relentless campaign - in schools, universities, churches, professional organizations, and, above all, the news media - to destroy Israel's moral image had the desired impact. Many Jewish liberals became desperate to escape from the shadow of Israel's alleged misdeeds and found a way to do so by joining other members of the left in blaming Israeli sins for Arab violence. Today, Jewish liberals rationalize violence against the innocent as resistance to the oppressor, excuse Arab extremism as the frustration of a wronged party, and redefine eliminationist rhetoric and physical assaults on Jews as "criticism of Israeli policy." Israel's Jewish accusers have played a crucial and disproportionate role in the current upsurge of antisemitism precisely because they speak as Jews. The essays in this book seek to understand and throw back the assault on Israel led by such Jewish liberals and radicals as Tony Judt, Noam Chomsky, George Steiner, Daniel Boyarin, Marc Ellis, Israel Shahak, and many others. Its writers demonstrate that the foundation of the state of Israel, far from being the primal sin alleged by its accusers, was one of the few redeeming events in a century of blood and shame.

In 1993 luminaries from around the world signed the 'Oslo Accords' - a pledge to achieve lasting peace in the Holy Land - on the lawn of the White House. Yet things didn't turn out quite as planned. With over 1, 000 Israelis and close to four times that number of Palestinians killed since 2000, the Oslo process is now considered 'history'. Impossible Peace provides one of the first comprehensive analyses of that history. Mark LeVine argues that Oslo was never going to bring peace or justice to Palestinians or Israelis. He claims that the accords collapsed not because of a failure to live up to the agreements; but precisely because of the terms of and ideologies underlying the agreements. Today more than ever before, it's crucial to understand why these failures happened and how they will impact on future negotiations towards the 'final status agreement'. This fresh and honest account of the peace process in the Middle East shows how by learning from history it may be possible to avoid the errors that have long doomed peace in the region.

Out of the Ashes is a unique account of the contribution of American Jews to the continued survival of the remnant of European Jewry - the She'erit Hapletah - in the aftermath of the Nazi Holocaust. As the Second World War drew to a close and the full extent of the Holocaust was revealed, the immediate American Jewish reaction of shocked silence and disbelief was soon transformed into pragmatic action: Jewish agencies throughout the US were mobilized to help the survivors and their communities to begin to rebuild shattered lives. Paramount among these organizations was the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), which since its formation in 1914 had established itself as the foremost American Jewish agency for helping fellow Jews overseas. The JDC was joined by other organizations, including the well-established HIAS (Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society) and ORT (Organization for Rehabilitation and Training). Based on a variety of sources, including the JDC archives and oral interviews, the book examines the politics and mechanics of the American Jewish intervention and assesses its extent and effect on the fate of European Jewry both in Europe and elsewhere in the years immediately after 1945.