Israel, the European Left and the Complexity of the Middle East

The reaction by the Left in Britain and France to the Arab Spring was one of both joy and opportunity in 2011, but had descended into a muffled and confused embarrassment by 2014. Yet this tentative alliance with Islamism mirrors past ideological mishaps such as a belief in Stalinism or the initial acceptance that World War II was essentially a war between rival imperialisms. This confusion in parts of the European Left is further mirrored by their historic lack of understanding of the complexity of the Israel-Palestine problem

Ploughshares into Swords? Israelis and Jews in the Shadow of the Intifada

This book traces Israel's transformation from a pioneering collective into its troubled present state. It examines the effect that the Palestinian problem has had on the Israeli state and its society. The book explores the nature of Zionist radicalism and shows how it was strengthened by the opposition to the Camp David accord, and the polemics that have raged over the territory captured during the Six-Day War. The book also analyzes the relationship between Israel and Diaspora, the effect on this of the Intifada and the Israeli reaction to it, and the possible consequences in this area of Yasser Arafat's support of Saddam Hussein