Reading a War

The Middle East Desk Recommends Books for a Crisis

Social media does not serve us at times like these. What is the platform now called X but a third rail for the world to grab? The Israel-Hamas War is the worst crisis faced by Israel in a half-century, another scar that will mark generations of Israelis and Palestinians, and a moment of maximal danger for the entire Middle East. War always unleashes chaos, disinformation, and horror. To try and sum up what is still happening in a tweet is preposterous.

History may not quite repeat itself, but it does thread through an infernal doom loop — the wheel of atrocity and revenge. If your loved ones have been abducted and murdered, the last thing you will countenance is an airy discussion of root causes. That is the insidious genius of terrorism, wherever it manifests and however it tries to justify itself: It sabotages reason and pulls the rug out from under civilization. It is violence itching for retaliation in the interests of martyrdom. It reminds us that technological virtuosity, cultural sophistication, and tolerance can be wiped away in a few bloody moments. It leaves its targets few options but reprisal.

Everywhere, we confront escalating outrages against our humanity. Costly wars will be fought, and when the victors roll away from the rubble, a full accounting may begin: How a fissures in the armor appeared; Whether hatred is a chronic illness or something that might possibly be cured; How awful conditions breed monstrosities. These are issues for another day. Those who pay the harshest price are never zealots or soldiers, but innocents. They deserve a better world.

Yours Ever,

Doron Kavillio and Shirin El-Abed

---

---

Arabs and Israelis: Conflict and Peacemaking in the Middle East by Abdel Monem Said Aly, Shai Feldman, and Khalil Shikaki. One-hundred and twenty years of competing narratives about the world’s most polarizing conflict, examined by scholars who are Egyptian, Israeli, and Palestinian. A high-minded effort to examine a difficult history from the perspectives of key players.

Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East by Michael B. Oren

The latest war in Gaza cannot be fully understood without revisiting the year in Israeli history that changed the balance of power in the Middle East. Oren, an American-born Israeli, was ambassador to the U.S. from 2009-2013. Pair it with Uri Kaufman’s 19 Days in October, which focuses on the Yom Kippur War of 1973, a gripping account of a conflict that mirrors recent events.