Mythologies Without End

Few subjects in modern history are argued over as bitterly as Israel's past. Rival stories, some sympathetic to Israel and some critical of it, compete for influence in Israel and around the world, from the Balfour Declaration through the Six-Day War to the latest fighting in Gaza. Many Americans and Israelis assume Israel has the stronger moral claim, though often with reservations attached.

Jerome Slater, a long-serving scholar of the conflict who is also a sharp critic of Israel, follows the dispute across the decades. He contends that American policy in the region rests largely on popular beliefs that are frequently mistaken, and that acceptance of those beliefs has damaged the real interests of both the United States and Israel. In his reading, the record shows that the two countries more often walked away from, or actively undermined, chances for fair settlements between Arabs and Israelis and between Israelis and Palestinians.

Slater revisits the whole sweep of the conflict, beginning with its roots at the close of the First World War and running to the present. His central claim is that the myths must be dismantled before the Arab-Israeli conflict can be solved. The book concentrates on the American role and examines how the policies of both governments kept the conflict alive long after it could have been settled.