New Releases

In Peter Beinart’s view, one story dominates Jewish communal life: that of persecution and victimhood. It is a story that erases much of the nuance of Jewish religious tradition and warps our understanding of Israel and Palestine. After Gaza, where Jewish texts, history, and language have been deployed to justify mass slaughter and starvation, Beinart argues, Jews must tell a new story. After this war, whose horror will echo for generations, they must do nothing less than offer a new answer to the question: What does it mean to be a Jew?

Noted journalist Yardena Schwartz draws on her extensive research and wide-ranging interviews with both sides to tell a timely, eye-opening story. She expertly weaves the war between Israel and Hamas into a historical framework, demonstrating how the conflict today cannot be understood without the context of ground zero of this century-old war, which began long before the occupation, the settlements, or the state of Israel ever existed.

What kind of political structure might one day enable Israelis and Palestinians to overcome the seemingly interminable cycle of violence and live in peace with one another? For many years, politicians and citizens have called for a two-state solution—two independent states, Israel and Palestine, coexisting side by side. This was Shlomo Sand's view too, but as more settlements were built in the occupied West Bank and millions of Palestinians were forced to live in a situation of de facto apartheid.

We know David Grossman's voice of ringing moral clarity from way back: since the late 1980s and The Yellow Wind, his classic work on the urgency of the two-state solution and the price paid by both occupier and occupied, he has been criticizing his country's government and pushing for paths to a lasting peace. Just after October 7th, 2023, he retreated inwards to ask himself anew these difficult and necessary questions about his beloved nation:

في القرن الخمستاشر، بينما الصراعات الدينية والعسكرية مشتعلة في أوروبا والحروب الأهلية في إنجلترا أو ما يسمى بحرب الورود، ملهمة الروائي جورج رر مارتن بكتابة سلسلة صراع العروش، كان المستكشف الإيطالي كريستوفر كولومبوس على ميعاد مع اكتشاف هيغير مجرى التاريخ!

இருபதாம் நூற்றாண்டில் உலகம் சந்திக்க நேர்ந்த மிகப்பெரிய சிக்கல், இஸ்ரேல்-பாலஸ்தீன் தொடர்பானது. தனித்துவம் மிக்க இரண்டு மதங்களின் வலுவான முரண்பாட்டுப் பின்னணியில் திறமை மிக்க அரசியல்வாதிகளால் முன்னெடுத்துச் செல்லப்பட்ட மக்களின் உணர்வு சார்ந்ததொரு பிரச்னை.

تعرف على أسرار الحياة في الريف الفلسطيني والأردني خلال القرن الماضي.