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Summary: Required Reading for Doves and Hawks
Review: Read this book and take a ride on the Arab side.
We've been fed the line that men and women are the same. This cultural hoax has been debunked in everyone's real life experiences. Now they're trying to feed us a new line that says all cultures of the world are essentially the same. This "We- Are-The-World" mentality has millions marching in the streets all over the world right now. Only one problem. Cultures are not the same. Leon Uris has done an incredible job of describing the tensions, the hatreds, and the realities of the Middle East.
The following quote beautifully describes and summarizes not only this excellent book but also the impossibilities of the current Middle East situation.
"During the summer heat my people become frazzled...They must explode. Nothing directs their frustration like Islam. Hatred is holy in this part of the world. It is also eternal...You do not know how to deal with us. For years, decades, we may seem to be at peace with you, but always in the back of our minds we keep up the hope of vengeance. No dispute is ever really settled in our world. The Jews give us a special reason to continue warring." (p. 60--The Haj)
This book, written decades ago, is as relevant as this morning's newspaper. Doves and Hawks alike should spend some time with "The Haj."
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Summary: The ultimate condemnation of the Arab society
Review: The insider's look given at the Arab society in this book is appalling. Uris speaks from an Arab point of view and what it comes down to is this:
Arabs are liers, cheaters, they don't know loyalty, they don't know love and tolerance, they are the worst cowards and the loudest braggers. They are despicable and hopeless and the only thing they understand is hatred. Their society is primitive at best. And that's only part of it.
Yet, when I see the bold, brash (and false) statements made by the Iraquis today (Feb. 2003), full of arrogance and not even related to the truth, it matches so exactly what Uris was describing that it gives me shivers.
Not a book for somebody who would like to remain without prejudice.
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Summary: The Haj: Even More Important Since 9-11
Review: The Haj by Leon Uris is a great read for understanding many of the situations in the Middle East today and as they affect the world.Written from the viewpoint of an Arab, one sees the many problems facing the Arab and Israeli. Arabs cannot trust their fellow Arabs as is demonstrated in the book and sometimes the only people and Arab can trust is a Jew, heaven forbid. Arabs fighting Arabs is as pertinent today as it was back through history. President Bush and his concerns of WMD in the hands of an unstable Sadaam Hussein is not only dangerous to the United States and Israel but to the rest of the Arab world, as Sadam aptly demonstrated in his war with Iran, his attack on Kuwait and then his systematic genocide aginst his own people, the Kurds, after the Desert Storm War. The United States and the rest of the world must convince the Arab-Muslims that true peace lies in working together for the benefit of all mankind. Religious differences must not hold us hostage to Weapons Of Mass Destruction and threaten world annilation. No one will win if this type of war breaks out!
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Summary: Gripping but the sheer biasness was difficult to stomach
Review: I just read the book (Jan 2003) and could not put it down, for sure. Uris' depicts the British leaving behind a mess that Arab politicians then attempted to dissect to their own advantage and Palestinians end up suffering, as they still do. He explores some issues which are important - treatment of women, poor access to education, the harshness of the environment there, Israelis reduced to the level of massacaring innocents (which he justifies as an accident), attempts to keep track of all the performers, including British and UN selective absenteeism while Middle Easterners battle it out, politicians gambling with a helpless populace, death squads that are kept poorly trained to be sacrificed as matrys which keep the reason to hate alive. He is prophetic about Arab fundamentalism exploding into the world, and that Jews would commit crimes as heinous as they received as the war would progress - Beirut would be witness to this. No one remains innocent in war. However, I was dismayed by Uris' total dimissal of Arab culture. Read other books to find a balance - mind you, this book does not provide the gospel truth, so take the advise of Uris' characters who read a lot to understand the world. Curious I searched the web and discovered Uris was an American Jew who served in WW II. It all made sense then. He is a victim of the sort of antagonism his characters grapple with. I know a reviewer said to remember that this is fiction, but the rabid biasness was shocking, hence the 3 stars - especially since he tried to pass it off as the view from the Palestinian side. He may have edged into propaganda and I was impatient with his obvious attempt, in an airport fiction novel, to buy over the reader to his cause. It'll be hard to read Uris with mistrust again, although he is a wonderful storyteller.
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Summary: 1944 to 1956 Middle East .... well, it might as well be 2003
Review: Leon Uris may have written the book nearly 20 years ago about a period of great strife with racial and religious intolerance in the Middle East, but, it might as well have been written about yesterday ..... What really has changed .... well basically nothing .... in leon Uris' book most if not all Arabs wanted all Jews/Isrealis dead, and today .... well you get the picture .... OK so it's quite obvious that Leon Uris writing a book about the Arab and Islam's view of Isreal being formed in their midst may not be unbiased, the historical facts in the book can hardly be refuted. He doesn't paint a pretty picture of the Saudi beduin tribes because maybe there ain't no pretty picture to be painted .... The book is a harsh story of life as a 'Palestinian' commencing in the early 1940's of a young Arab, Ishmael. Ishmael lived in a small settlemnt of Tabah located half way between Haifa and Jerusalem. Ishmael being one of the only people in the little enclave, under control of Haj Ibrahim, that learned to read and provides us with a blow by blow account of growing up in the middle of familial, political and religious turmoil and violence .... It really is a wonderfull but sad story and the book gave me a much better understanding of life in the Middle East that I would ever get from any of the numerous talking heads on network and cable TV .....
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Summary: Not for the Palestinian
Review: I stared this book thinking I was going to see the Israeli / Palestinian crisis through the eyes of a Palestinian. Boy was I wrong. It is an interesting perspective of the conflict through the eyes of someone sympathetic to Israel, and goes a long way into explaining why the two groups cannot get along. I have to admit, I am ignorant of the Palestinian culture (or according to the author, lack there of). I found the book interesting and worth recommending to someone else to read. The book did not change my opinion of the Palestinian people. However, the author's opinion of the state of the Palestinian region and people prior/during the creation of Israel goes a long way into explaining why the crisis between the two people will go on for years to come. Racist (maybe), Biased (Probably), worth reading (absolutely).
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Summary: THE NAKED TRUTH
Review: For a while, after reading "Haj", I tried to answer a few questions for myself. I wanted to understand if this book was as close to the truth as possible and how should I relay it to "Exodus". So, I taked to people, who's opinion I value, discussing the book and the truth, and I checked the facts. The truth was that Jews did not force the Palestinians to leave, other Arabs did, Jordanian legion did. The Islam leaders did it. "Haj" presents it very well, and it is still in a miled form. The truth was even uglier than that. So, if you really on the market for truth, if you want to understand the tragedy of the Middle East, read "Exodus" and "Haj" by Leon Uris.
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Summary: A Must Read For An Understanding Of The Middle East Conflict
Review: Leon Uris has given us a great gift in writing The Haj. It is an honest and beautifully written background of the conflict that has raged for so many generations. This is, I feel, the best work of Leon Uris. It is fascinating and exciting from beginning to end, poignant, and heartbreaking. This should be required reading in today's increasingly troubled times.
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Summary: Compelling and Entertaining
Review: Just skews a rating of 5/5. One of Uris's bests books and certainingly a very timely and relevent topic for today's uncertain times. Breathes life into the fascinating Arab culture.
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Summary: Understanding the forces at work
Review: Great historical fiction and overview of all the opposing forces in this part of the world. As a historian I find it interesting that "peace" as sought will never be found in this region....review the record and understand that barbaric conflict goes back many thousands of years. Great read!
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