Seize From Beirut To Jerusalem Author Thomas L. Friedman Distributed As Interactive EBook

first half of the book deals with the Civil War in Lebanon, Was greatly reminded of the situation in Afghanistan that I learnt by reading sitelinkAhmed Rashid's acclaimed sitelinkTaliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia.
Halfadozen tribes/sects and each of them in war with everyelse and the neighbours getting involved to burn their hands.
Also realised that Friedman's skill of insightful narration with anecdotes is unparalleled, Finally, understood what it was about,
The second half is on the IsraelPalestine conflict, Again the author discusses Zionism, the various sections of the Israeli society, the roots of the conflict,the intifada, its media coverage in the West and the relations between America and Israel in some depth.
Was dry for a while in between but mostly interesting, Also liked that views and experiences of a number of people have been recorded

as in a travelogue,
Cant say it enough, havent seen an author as perceptive with such a great eye on the big picture as Thomas Friedman.
Deservedly, he hasPulitzers. Andstar ratings out of thebooks that I have read by him, I used to follow and read Thomas Friedmans columns regularly, Thought he was a pretty interesting guy even if I didnt subscribe to his politics, But he became a bloated, pompous caricature of a journalist as he turned out junk like The World is Flat, The Sky is Blue, The Sea is Salty well maybe the last two arent real but he has a bunch of similarsounding books.
I decided to go back to his first book sitelinkFrom Beirut to Jerusalem to see how he got his start.
I figured it would be a less slanted, more unbiased, openeyed look at the world before he got sucked up into the “collective” that is the current NYT.
I was wrong. He freely admits his intention to slant his stories about Israels Lebanon invasion because he was so “betrayed” in his “Israel on a pedestal” views.
This book is not what I expected and hoped for, a history of the region and why it is in conflict.
This is a “Toms excellent adventure” in Beirut and Jerusalem, mainly about him and his travels, It is also very focused on the personalities of the day, which is understandable because he was the reporter on the scene.
The book does not travel the span of time well,

I give props to Friedman, he has some cojones going to report on the Lebanese civil war as his first big assignment.
A Jew in Beirut, he figures no one would suspect him of being jewish there, Pretty ballsy. But he quickly disabuses me of the idea he is an honest reporter, Short version of his reporting: the PLO is goodhearted but amateurish and unsophisticated in an appealing way the Maronite Christians are Beiruts corrupt version of the mafia, evil and untrustworthy the Sunni Muslims are mysterious and vaguely honorable the Shia are somewhat naïve and trusting but rising up in justified anger and the Israelis are lying devils invading poor, innocent Lebanon.
I found him cold his unemotional description of the death of his employees wife and daughter who were babysitting his Beirut apartment during a particularly dangerous time and were blown up by warring factions struck me his tossing off of the gassing of Iraqi Kurds by Saddam as just how strong leaders dealt with uppity tribes the “Hama rules” of Hafez alAssad.
His treatment of the PLO and Arafat in Lebanon was very sympathetic, His treatment of Lebanese society seemed like caricatures,

He moves to Jerusalem and reports on Israel, Again I found his writing very slanted, He describes one incident where a Jewish man is pelted by stones as he is driving, The man stops to get revenge on the Palestinian boys who could have killed him, Friedman witnesses the event but says the reason the man was so upset was because he would have to payto repair his windshield Are you freakin kidding me

The book does give a more nuanced view of the society with its warring factions over how to deal with the West Bank and Gaza.
Also the friction between the secular and the religious populations is decent, I found his explanation of the first intifada interesting as he brings out the impacts on both sides, This part of the book was ok,
Finally, Friedman cant resist putting up his own solution to end the conflict, What is needed is an Israeli “bastard for peace” who will take the chance and give the West Bank and Gaza over to the Palestinians so they can have a “home” of their own.
Working out really well in the case of Gaza now, isnt it Tom The “river to the sea” is not an empty slogan, the Palestinians will never be satisfied until the entire state of Israel is gone.
For a better history and assessment of the region, read sitelinkThe High Cost of Peace: How Washington's Middle East Policy Left America Vulnerable to Terrorism.


Stars in recognition of Friedmans guts to live and report in the region,
Ờ Mây Zing!! Gút Chóp : nhưng lắm lúc viết dông dài quá nên trừsao thanh lịch bạn nhé.
Recommend cho bạn nào muốn tìm hiểu sâu về Israel nên tìm đọc cuốn My promised land của tg Ari Shavit nhé.
Sống động, tràn đầy thông tin, độ chân thực thì chưa rõ, nhưng đọc rất hấp dẫn! I know I'm biased.
Like I happen to be uniquely situated in the Middle East, With that said, I've also been looking for a historical and contemporary look at the region, Friedman does a great job telling his own story of fiveten years in Lebanon then Israel/Palestine, And he does it with insight into the lives of people from every corner, Highly recommend to friends who want to understand persistent dynamics of these confusing conflicts, Pasaulis yra milžiniškas katilas, kuriame nuolatos verda gyvenimas, Jis pripildytas istorijos, geopolitikos, religijos, politikos, Todėl suprasti arba bent kažkiek geriau suvokti tam tikrus įvykius yra be galo sunku, Kiekvienas sako "savąją tiesą", nuslėpdamas dalykus, netinkančiui jo kuriamai istorijai, pridėdamas savo detalių ir pan,
Gyvendami savo mažajame pasaulyje, globalųjį pasaulį matome, tarsi, džiugles, tankias ir painias, Kartais mums sunku susigaudyti, kas vyksta savajame kieme, o ką jau kalbėti apie kitas kultūras, religijas, istorijas, .

Ši knyga, tai mažas šviesos spindulys, leisiantis bent kažkiek geriau suprasti artimų rytų gyvenimo virtuvę, I started reading this once before, then had it stolen by Mike Silverburg, . . bastad! Reacquired at Borders,

Well, I very much disliked The World is Flat, but this was pretty awesome.
Not at all a history, per say although you'll get a good glimpse of the's era, especially the Beirut troubles and the Arafat era prior to the first intifada, but a pretty solid memoir of a fascinating time and place.
This extraordinary bestseller is still the most incisive, thoughtprovoking book ever written about the Middle East, Thomas L. Friedman, twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting, and now the Foreign Affairs columnist on the oped page of the New York Times, drew on his ten years in the Middle East to write a book that The Wall Street Journal called "a sparkling intellectual guidebook.
. . an engrossing journey not to be missed, " Now with a new chapter that brings the everchanging history of the conflict in the Middle East up to date, this seminal historical work reaffirms both its timeliness and its timelessness.
"If you're only going to read one book on the Middle East, this is it, " Seymour Hersh Knowing nothing or Friedman I found it interesting that I was ridiculed for having this book in hand, I guess that's what you get for bringing 'NeoCon Zionist' literature to an internship in Palestine! My only prior knowledge of the book was that it covered the recent history of the Middle East with a heavy emphasis on the Palestinian and Israeli conflict.
I thought I'd dive in for a bit of education, . .

During the first half of the book, Friedman's profession is made very clear, both through his writing, and his writing style.
He talks at great lengths of himself as a journalist but also does a great job of reporting on the tumultuous period in Lebanese history.
Knowing nothing of these conflicts, I appreciated his presentation of their development and, especially, America's involvement,

By the time Friedman, and the book, move on to Jerusalem, my interest slowly slipped away, Honestly, it was hard to go into the text objectively as those around me continued to tell me how horrible it was, despite never having read the book in full themselves.
But, here's what I got out of it,

Unlike Beirut, Friedman presents little fact based history on the development of the Israeli State, Instead, he focuses on the ideological reasons that the country came about, and the implications that these reasons have for a visiting American Jew.
An interesting perspective if you're curious as to how Friedman deals with his own religion, but not so much outside of that.


As the book dives deeper into the Palestinian and Israeli divide, Friedman isolates himself as a strong supporter of Israel.
While, yes, he makes claims of wanting peace, and recognizing the difficulty of the process, the way in which he frames the situation is, well, antagonistic.
I understand that the book was written at the height of the First Intifada, but, even so, continually referring to a people as a collective enemy is not only unscholarly but outright ignorant.
Isn't creating 'us versus them' how wars start Not how they end

The dichotomy he creates, and adheres to, speaks worlds for his political views and unwillingness to accept the fact that there is a nation of people who have been routinely oppressed by the creation of the State of Israel.
I cannot fathom how, or why, as a highly revered journalist, he can get away with the hypothetical speeches he has imagined Prime Ministers deliver at the end of the book.
To be so brazen, so negative, so hateful,

I am amazed that he is still so highly regarded, Perhaps his writing since the publication of this book has been more objective, Or, perhaps, it hasn't, and that's exactly what America wants, or thinks it wants,

Ouch.

Now I know why I was mocked for reading it, I don't regret it, I just won't ever go back to it!,