Intelligent and reasonable people understand that multiple and complex cultural,psychological,and political forces are always at work to make things "the way they are." There are no pure angels or demons in Israel/Palestine, yet the authors insist they can correctly interpret and / or explain "what really happened" throughout history, or what Judaism is and always was all about. Neither project is do-able. What is do-able is composing polemics and even fabrications to suit an argument, the premise of which is dubious and borders on the reprehensible. If the failure to achieve political compromise in Palestine in 1947, or a peace agreement afterwards, and the consequences of those failures, are deemed worse than or equal to the fate that befell Jews during WWII, then what we are really dealing with here becomes clear. A big lie. I feel pity for the Israeli chemist who survived the Warsaw Ghetto, was obviously brilliant, but whose writings reflect deep rooted problems. I do not believe that there is courage or anything laudable about hateful and falsehood-riddled polemics against anyone, especially one's "own" people for defending themselves against enemies who wish for their destruction. I feel far less pity for a Professor in the US who has misguided generations of naive students and educators, posing as an expert on matters that drive him emotionally but who has no standing whatsoever among most scholars who have genuine credentials regarding the so-called "Middle East." Shahak, Mezvinsy, Chomsky, Said, Rodinson etc and the younger Israeli or ex-Israeli anti-Zionist writers are lauded by Islamists, Marxists, anti-Semites, the Neturai Karta, and naive people who really think they are prophets calling out in the wilderness. I wonder what Said would make of the doctrines and popularity of Hamas. Is it really because of what Israel does, or is it the mere fact that Israel exists at all? This has always been the core issue, nothing has changed. I doubt this book would have passed peer review by any worthy academic press. As for Israel Palestine a two-state solution is the only viable "solution" though it is not a deeply meaningful solution at all. Hatreds and prejudice and discrimination and the war will end when they cease to have reasons to exist. Those who insist that the only way that will happen is for Israel to cease to exist are the true extremists, the real haters, and, in my view, the root cause of Palestinian "disaster."