Understanding the Holy Land: Answering questions about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

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About Understanding The Holy Land: Answering Questions

Product Description The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is unlike any other situation in the world today. It's in the news daily, can spark intense emotional arguments, and influences American foreign policy. Yet, a real understanding of this heated conflict is hard to come by. In Understanding the Holy Land, Mitch Frank offers straightforward explanations. Answering questions from "What is intifada?" to "Why is peace so hard?" Frank carefully covers the significant developments of this complex disagreement. Written in a question-and-answer format for sixth-graders and up, and illustrated with black-and-white photos and maps, this book will help young people understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its significance to the world. From School Library Journal Grade 6-9–In simple, straightforward language, making no assumptions about any prior knowledge, Frank tackles the task of sorting out the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He begins with a concise political history of the Jews and of the area's Arabs. He tries hard for objectivity, and usually reports feelings on both sides impartially. Occasionally he is less successful. At the outset, for example, he states that "Israelis have controlled all of the land [Israel sits on] for several decades, and Palestinians have fought them to try and take it." Adding the word "back" to the end of that succinct summary would change it radically, and its absence is significant. Nevertheless, the author usually succeeds in representing both sides' hopes and failures in this painful contest. He untangles the complexity by organizing his material effectively. His overall tactic is to use questions as section headings, so that the entire book is a kind of FAQ. Frank includes a helpful glossary (Yom Kippur is missing) and a two-page bibliography of adult books and newspaper and magazine articles. The black-and-white photos and simple maps are few but significant. At the end, Frank manages to give readers some not unrealistic hope for a solution. His book is itself a valuable contribution to that possibility. –Patricia D. Lothrop, St. George's School, Newport, RI From Booklist *Starred Review* Gr. 6-9. There's nothing flashy in this book. No dramatic design work; the photographs are interesting but basic. The strength is simply in organization and in the language. Frank, the author of Understanding September 11 (2002), tackles the complex subject of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, making it comprehensible, if not any less horrific; in some ways, the plain recitations of the facts make the hatred, death, and destruction even more shocking. He uses a simple yet wonderfully effective technique to present the information: questions and answers. Each chapter has a theme question (for example, "What Is the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict?"), and within each chapter this subject is further broken down. For instance, the first chapter evokes several more targeted questions--Why is there a conflict? and Why is the rest of the world involved? In this fashion, Frank delves deeply into the conflict--its history, underlying reasons, the help (or lack thereof) given by other countries. Although the penultimate question, Is peace possible? is not answered in a particularly hopeful way, the last question, What can you do? offers some ideas, if not for solutions, for ways readers can bring information and peace into their own lives. Evenhanded and honest. Ilene Cooper Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Review Direct, unflinching, intelligent, and humane, this is an invaluable resource for teens and adults alike. (Booklist review for Understanding September 11th)