(Part 2) Top products from r/IsraelPalestine

I did read Fateful Triangle many years ago I don't remember it well. I liked it didn't love it. I think he has some good lines about the Liberal delusions about what Oslo agreed to. And he certainly said this stuff far earlier than most in this book. Credit where credit is due.

I often enjoy Chomsky but I tend to disagree too much to consider him a great writer. The big problem I have with Chomsky is he tends to have rather unrealistic views of what countries do and then "shocks" his readers by talking about how the USA doesn't meet those standards. If you start with the basic premise that the USA is rationally pursuing its self interest along with other entities pursuing their self interest I think a good deal of the shock wears off. The hypocrisy he insinuates just isn't there. The USA does support humanitarian norms, it is just about the 15th priority on the list, not the 1st or 2nd. Similarly the purpose of Israel is to act in the collective self interest of the Jewish nation. Democratic norms are obeyed and enhanced in Israel in so far as they are in accord or at least don't conflict with that goal

You asked for book recommendations.

• https://www.amazon.com/Iron-Wall-Israel-Updated-Expanded/dp/0393346862/ would be strongest by far
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Prime-Ministers-Yehuda-Avner-ebook/dp/B003X9781Y/r
  
• https://www.amazon.com/My-Promised-Land-Triumph-Tragedy-ebook/dp/B009QJMXI8/ -- a liberal wrestles with Israel I think you might like.
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Founding-Fathers-Zionism-Benzion-Netanyahu-ebook/dp/B007Z3QURC/ by Netanyahu's father. Covers Pinsker, Herzl, Nordau, Zangwill, and Zabotinsky A good treatment of the basic ideas of the Zionist right. More importantly a good insight into PM Netanyahu's worldview.
  
  That should start the discussion.
  

The Member States of the United Nations - an international organization - recognize borders by recognizing States. Hence, why I said:

> the international community does in fact determine borders.

Here is how that happens.

The UN as an organization enforces and protects those borders. This takes place in a variety of ways.

If you want to understand more about how States became the primary political actor that make rules vis-a-vis each other, this book will help you learn more about that.

If you'd like to learn more about how States use and delegate power to International Organizations in order to solve international problems, this book will help you do that.

If you'd like to learn more about how the UN System works to enforce borders, this book will help you do that.

Someone posted a website where you can find free books on the non-politics thread. You can probably find pdf copies of each of these books (though personally I just keep them on my shelf to read in a more tangible form and for quick reference).

I can recommend this book. It is very good: https://www.amazon.com/War-Palestine-Rewriting-History-Cambridge/dp/0521699347

Thanks for posting.


For further reading, consider Yoram Hazony's The Jewish State: The Struggle for Israel's Soul which discusses Herzl's policies as applied to the current state of Israel.

Read James Gelvin's The Israel-Palestine Conflict: One Hundred Years of War

Also, this MERIP page is a good starter.

Given your low level of knowledge and your insistence on acting like you do know things, I suggest this introductory book on Physics: We Have No Idea.

Anonymous Soldiers written by Bruce Hoffman shows the situation in Palestine from 1917-1947 and focuses on the situation after the Second World War.