Description

By (author) Achcar Gilbert; Translated by Goshgarian G. M.

Short /annotation:

Gilbert Achcar explores the clash of narratives between the Holocaust and the Nakba, tracing Arab responses to the Holocaust from WWII to today. This incisive work examines how history is politicised, shaping the Arab–Israeli conflict and hindering Arab–Western understanding.

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The Arab–Israeli conflict goes far beyond the wars waged on Middle Eastern battlefields. There is also a war of narratives revolving around the two defining traumas of the conflict: the Holocaust and the Nakba. One side is charged with Holocaust denial, the other with exploiting a tragedy while denying the tragedies of others.In this path-breaking book, eminent political scientist Gilbert Achcar explores these conflicting narratives and considers their role in today’s Middle East dispute. He analyses the various Arab responses to the Holocaust, from the earliest intimations of the genocide, through the creation of Israel and the occupation of Palestine, and up to our own time, critically assessing the political and historical context for these responses.Achcar offers a unique ideological mapping of the Arab world, in the process defusing and international propaganda war that has become a major stumbling block in the path of Arab–Western understanding.

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”A fascinating, subtle and original analysis of Israeli and Arab historical narratives”

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”An erudite, perceptive, and highly original study”

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”A systematic and scholarly refutation of the simplistic myths that have arisen following the formation of Israel – The best book on the subject so far”

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”[Achcar] carefully examines the long history of Arab-Jewish conflict back through the 19th century, illuminating the range of opinions”

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”Achcar offers a careful parsing of a most incendiary topic: the use of references to the Holocaust in the rhetoric of the Arab-Israeli conflict – Calm and judicious in tenor yet unyielding in its intellectual rigor, this selection may show the path out of a seemingly intractable dispute.” Booklist

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”Lucid and penetrating” Stephen Howe, The Independent ”Excellent”

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”[The Arabs and the Holocaust is] of tremendous historical importance”

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”A standard reference for years to come. Scrupulous in its scholarship, firm in political principle, ruthless in exposure”

Biographical note:
Gilbert Achcar is Emeritus Professor of Development Studies and International Relations at SOAS, University of London. His many books, published in more than twenty languages, include The Clash of Barbarisms: The Making of the New World Disorder; Perilous Power: The Middle East and US Foreign Policy, with Noam Chomsky; The Arabs and the Holocaust: The Arab-Israeli War of Narratives; The People Want: A Radical Exploration of the Arab Uprising and The New Cold War: The United States, Russia and China, from Kosovo to Ukraine.