A Durable Peace Israel and Its Place Among the Nations By Benjamin Netanyahu Grand Central Publishing: 2000 ISBN: 0446523062

Netanyahu displays his knack--perfect for the television era but also helpful on these pages--for channeling complex ideas into pithy statements. Here's Netanyahu on the importance of Israel to the Jewish people: "If there had been a Jewish state in the first half of the [20th] century, there would have been no Holocaust. And if there had not been a Jewish state after the Holocaust, there would have been no Jewish future." On the need for Arab concessions in the peace process: "For the sake of peace, [the Arab states] must renounce their claims to part of the four ten-thousandths--.0004--of the lands they desire, which constitute the very heart of the Jewish homeland and the protective wall of the Jewish state." These are the statements of a skilled debater, and they represent a one-sided view of Middle Eastern politics. Yet Netanyahu also provides an excellent introduction to Zionism and the need to protect a small country against neighbors who have waged war against it. --John J. Miller

Product Description
In this thought-provoking and meticulously researched examination of the Middle Easts troubled history, charismatic, conservative, and sometimes controversial Israeli Benjamin Netanyahu traces the origins, development, and politics of Israels relationship with the Arab world and the West. Passionate and forceful, Mr. Netanyahu argues that Israels situation remains precarious, and that the Arabs, in conjunction with much of the world, have forced Israel to shrink to one-fifth of the land originally promised to the Jewish people. Tightly reasoned and filled with unique insights into current affairs, this is a powerful statement from a strong voice in world politics.