rts Ent rtai Crink ing STRAIGHT TO ME PONT! LE Ss. 0, ,, , ifYIANDER. OF Tk C ISRAEL AND ITS PLACE AMONG THE NATIONS • From the heart of Israel, author Richard Oestermann presents 35 unique human interest stories in Born Again (Gefen Publishing House; $16.95). Jews, Arabs, a ballet star, a Nobel Prize- winning author, a Bedouin doctor, a transsexual and a murderer are just some of the characters whose stories are told. A Danish journalist, Oestermann has lived in Jerusalem since 1961. • As former prime minister of Israel and former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Benjamin Netanyahu has witnessed at close range the Middle East's troubled history. In A Durable Peace: Israel and Its Place Among the Nations (Warner Books; $30.00), he offers his prescription for peace while tracing the origins, history and politics of Israel's relationship with the Arab world and the West. Originally pub- lished in 1993 as A Place Among the Nations, Netanyahu revised his book to reflect the most recent developments in Israeli-Palestinian relations. • Straight to the Point! Limor Livnat — The Leading Woman in Israeli Politics Speaks her Mind (Gefen Publishing House; $16.95) is a collec- tion of speeches by Israel's former minis- ter of communications under Benyamin Netanyahu. An eighth-generation Israeli, Livnat covers a range of topics, includ- ing her opinions on women's rights, the Oslo Accords, telecommunications, Israel's security, Israel as a Jewish and democratic state and Jewish unity. Livnat, often credited with the success of Israel's telecommunications revolution, has been involved in Israeli politics since 1992 and currently serves as a member of the Knesset. J21 5/19 2000 88 • Contemporary historians of Israel have raised serious concerns concern- ing the Zionist mission of Israel's founders. In The Jewish State: The Struggle for Israel's Soul (Basic Books; $28.00), author.Yoram Hazony explores Israel's history and its contem- porary culture, providing an in-depth study of the "new Israel" and "post- A s, A roundup of recent books that reflect on the Jewish state. SHARI ZINGLE Special to the Jewish News Zionism," including its origins and political impact on both Israelis and Americans, Jews and non-Jews. In por- traying the cultural and political revolt against Israel's legal and moral status as a Jewish state, Hazony examines the latest ideological trends in Israeli acad- emia, literature, law, the armed forces and the foreign policy establishment. In a sure to be controversial book, the author, president of the Shalem Center, an institute for Jewish social thought and public policy in Jerusalem and Washington, D.C., contends that many leading Israelis are preparing themselves for the final break with the Jewish past and the Jewish future. • America's foreign policy with Israel is thoroughly scrutinized in A Concubine in the Middle Fast (Gefen Publishing House; $24.95). Professor Ezra Sohar, M.D., analyzes the positive and negative factors in Israel's relationship with the United States in the pre- and post-Cold War eras. He also covers America's policy toward the Arab states, Israel-Palestinian peace politics and U.S. foreign aid. Raised on a kibbutz, Sohar is an interna- tionally renowned medical expert and a pioneering environmentalist. • Commander of the Exodus (Grove Press; $25.00) is the story of Yossi Harel, who commanded four of the largest ille- gal Jewish immigraRt ships that bought 24,000 Jews from Ei1rope to Palestine between 1945 and 1948. Award-winning Israeli writer Yoram Kaniuk details both Harel's life story and the suffering and determination of the refugees. Harel's career climaxed with thq voyage of the famous ship _Exodus, an expedition later depicted in the novel by Leon Uris. • In 1993, Israeli reporter Amira Haas drove to Gaza to cover a story, and stayed for four years. Drinking the Sea at Gaza: Days and Nights in a Land Under Siege (Metropolitan Books; $26.00) is an account of ordinary Palestinians — doctors and house- wives, taxi drivers, farmers and Islamic leaders — and a probing analysis of the major political forces shaping their future. Translated in 1999, Haas shares the grief and humiliations of the Palestinians and offers a portrait of a spiritually resilient people. • In The Biography of Ancient Israel: National Narratives in the Bible (University of California Press; $24.95), author Ilana Bardes examines the formation of the Israelite nation through the first five books of the Bible. She suggests that history and literature go hand in hand more explicitly than in modern historiogra- phy. The Bible does not provide a homogeneous account of national for- mation, suggests Bardes, but rather reveals points of tension between dif- ferent perceptions of the nation's his- tory and destiny. The author teaches comparative literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. • A unique Israeli-Arab author duo tack- les one of the most complex and contro- versial situations from both sides of the firing line in The Fifty Years' War: Israel and the Arabs (TV Books; $29.95). From the creation of Israel in 1948 to the current attempts at a reconciliation, authors Ahron Bregman and Jihan El- Tahri draw on hundreds of in-depth interviews with politicians, soldiers and journalists in a comprehensive account of Israel's relations with its Arab neigh- bors. The documentary film (of the same name) based on the book has aired on PBS and is available on video. • The Bible has long been a guide to the history of the Middle East. In The View From Nebo: How Archaeology is Rewriting the Bible and Reshaping the Middle Fact (Little, Brown and - Company, $25.95), Wall Street Journal reporter Amy Dockser Marcus takes the reader on a tour through the books of the Old Testament. She investigates how modem archaeology and its discoveries have raised questions about many of the most widely accepted biblical narratives. She presents controversial findings: The Pyramids were built not by Israeli slaves, but by Egyptian artisans and laborers; the united monarchy of David and Solomon was probably not in fact united; the Babylonian Exile was suffered by a relative minority. The discoveries are controversial not only for what they tell us about the Bible itself, but for their repercussions on the contemporary Middle Fast. • Wendy Orange, a writer, teacher and psychologist, uprooted her family in Cambridge, Mass., to live in Jerusalem. When she got a job as an investigative journalist, she crossed the line that sepa- rates Israelis from displaced Palestinians and began a journey in another country she came to love. In Coming Home to Jerusalem: A Personal Story (Simon and Schuster; $25; June 2000), this Jewish American offers a portrait of daily life in Israel and of the country's wide assortment of endlessly varied per- sonalities. • In Between Sodom and Eden: A Gay Journey Through Today's Changing Israel (Columbia University Press; $19.00), Lee Walter traces the political, religious and social factors that make Israel a gay rights trendsetter. He exam- ines the interplay between Judaism and homosexuality, the growing prominence of gay themes in Israeli literature, film, music and television, and the role of the media in advancing lesbian and gay political progress. Walter is an attorney, writer and former vice president of the World Congress of Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Jewish Organizations.