Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land

By David K. Shipler. New York: Random House, 1986. 596 pages $22.50 (cloth).

Reviewed by Arun Kapil

Of all the conflicts in the world, few have been the subject of more books than the Arab-Israeli dispute. On the whole, most recent works on the subject have added little new in the way of information, analysis, or perspective to our understanding of the conflict. This is not the case with David Shipler's Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land. The New York Times bureau chief in Jerusalem from 1979-1984, Shipler has written a remarkable and unique book which focuses on the manner in which Jews and Arabs in Israel and the occupied territories personally perceive and relate to each other. And he illustrates this through discussions with individuals on both sides. It is about how the conflict is lived in everyday life.

Each chapter of the book centers on a particular theme and describes in detail the stereotypes Jews and Arabs hold of one another, as well as the enormous ignorance and lack of interest the two have in the others' history, culture, and present situation. As is common for someone claiming to be a detached, outside observer, Shipler implicitly tries to establish an equivalence between Jewish and Arab positions and perceptions. The utter asymmetry in the power relationship between the two undermines this structure, however, and Shipler ends up devoting much space and emotional energy in describing the unenviable position in which Arabs, both inside Israel and in the West Bank and Gaza, find themselves in living under Zionist rule.

The book contains extended discussions of the dispossession of the Palestinians in 1948, the crimes committed against them, the second-class status of those who remained in Israel, and the brutal and repressive occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. This is well-traveled territory, but Shipler covers it in an emotional and compelling manner, buttressed with testimonials from victims of Israeli rule.

Jews, Arabs Ignorant of Each Other

On the level of perception, Shipler repeatedly emphasizes that the Israeli Jewish public exists in near total ignorance of what transpires in the West Bank, Gaza, and in Arab communities within Israel itself. This isolation from the Arabs under their rule, combined with the fear and animosity born of decades of conflict, has led to deeply held racist stereotypes. There is the common view of Arabs as a primitive people possessing a particular "mentality" that is irrational in nature and that renders them incapable of distinguishing reality from fantasy. Arabs, in the eyes of many Israeli Jews, are also seen both as cowards and as being prone to extreme violence. Even Israeli Arabs, a most quiescent group on the whole, are viewed by many Jews as potential terrorists.

This ignorance and incomprehension of the other side is a mutual phenomenon, as Shipler repeatedly emphasizes. Among Arabs, particularly in the West Bank and Gaza, where contact with Jews is largely limited to settlers and soldiers, there are similar dehumanizing stereotypes of Jews. The idea that Jews, 40 years after the creation of Israel, may have any kind of legitimate claim in Palestine is rejected out of hand by many. There are similar notions of Jews being capable of great violence and evil, yet craven and weak and able to win wars only through possession of superior military hardware. Often no distinction is made between Israelis and Jews in general. There exists a near total ignorance of the persecution of Jews throughout European history, as well as of the holocaust itself. Most distressing is the wide currency lent to old European anti-Semitic beliefs such as blood libel and the notion of a nefarious world Jewish conspiracy. Evidence of this is the wide dissemination throughout the Arab world of the notorious, anti-Semitic forgery, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Shipler takes pains to emphasize, however, that anti-Semitism in the Arab world is considerably less virulent than versions that have existed in the Christian West. We are reminded that the historical position of Jews in the Islamic world was better than in Europe, that Arab anti-Semitism today is a relatively shallow phenomenon primarily resulting from the conflict with Israel, and that the PLO has always condemned racist sentiment against Jews. To this effect, Shipler quotes Jewish-American visitors and residents in the Arab world who have experienced little or no prejudice or hostility on account of their identity.

Shipler has written an intensely personal work, a cri de coeur by one who cares deeply about the Israelis, Palestinians, and the land over which they struggle. With the exception of a few factual errors and questionable interpretations, he understands the situation there well. It is one of the most compelling books ever written on the subject.

Arun Kapil is a graduate student at the University of Chicago's department of political science.