Gaza An inquest into its martyrdom

A longtime passionate critic of Israeli policies toward Palestinians, the author has never been one to shy away from controversy, whether accusing Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz of plagiarism or calling out supporters of Israel who charge their critics with anti-Semitism. Here, he warns prospective readers that "perusing this book will require infinite patience," and that he "holds out faint hope" that it "will find an audience among his contemporaries." This volume is indeed a demanding read and a detailed review of Israel's 2009 and 2014 invasions of Gaza and its raid of a Turkish humanitarian flotilla in 2010--and of the many human rights reports issued after each operation. The subtitle calls the book an inquest, but it reads more like a dogged prosecutor's indictment of Israel, complete with over 1,300 footnotes. While eager to document Israeli killings of civilians, Finkelstein is keen to defend Hamas from charges of war crimes. He charges both Amnesty International and the United Nations Human Rights Council with "betrayal" for publishing reports that partly criticize Palestinian rocket attacks and that are less critical of Israel than he believes the facts warrant. Nonetheless, the factual record compiled here will be of interest to future historians on all sides. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --Scott Waalkes, Malone University

Political-science professor Finkelstein (Method and Madness), a controversial voice in the contentious debate over Israel's role in the Middle East, establishes his sharp focus here not on Gaza generally but on "what has been done to Gaza" in a succession of Israeli actions, particularly Operation Cast Lead (2008-2009), Operation Pillar of Defense (2012), and Operation Protective Edge (2014). He delineates that "what has befallen Gaza is a human-made human disaster," likening it to American policies of Native American removal. Heavy with supportive documentation (footnotes outstrip the text on occasion) and often dense in officialese from the reports of various entities involved (including the UN Human Rights Council, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International), Finkelstein debunks much of what he sees about Gaza in the U.S. media and government as reflecting the work of the Israeli lobby. "Perusing this book will require infinite perseverance," Finkelstein warns, and readers with limited familiarity with the major actors on the ground, such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Palestinian Authority, may feel more overwhelmed than informed. On the other hand, readers with fixed positions, either in agreement or disagreement with Finkelstein, will find much to engage with here. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.