Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Zealots for Zion: Inside Israel's West Bank Settlement Movement Hardcover – October 27, 1992 by Robert I. Friedman (Rutgers University Press)



This book, unless I am mistaken, was one of the first books written on the subject of settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The author has a genuine desire to learn about them and write about them in a clear and coherent way. He does his best considering circumstances to be balanced considering the issue. He, like others since, have put a human face on the generally political movement of settlers. He visits many settlers and settlements and allows them to speak freely. I think he should have tried to visit some more settlements but this was the early 1990s, so they were smaller and more cohesive, so perhaps I am being to modern on it. The book has its limitations such as being written during a time where you really had to go out of your way to get factually correct information on the subject. Meaning the New Historians were still in the making and many "alternative" sources we hidden. So I understand his broad assumptions at points and his narrative following in others, but do not excuse them. Worth a read, 40 Years in the Wilderness is a modern version of this book, but encompasses more types of settlers and is written by Israelis.

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