Rating: 
Summary: Accurate portayals can never be racist
Review: It is strange to me to read the other reviews posted on this page and compare their views of the middle east to my own. As one who as been a part of the Middle East conflict for a long time, from an impartial perspective (or at least as impartial as one can be), I am willing to say that Uris' charaterizations of both ethnic groups are strikingly accurate. It is easy for those of you sitting in America to assume that if the book bad-mouths Arabs, it must be slander and racism. But why not take a look at the empirical evidence? How do you explain that Israel's economy is five times as large as Syria's, although Syria has a far greater population and is 20 times the size? There are two ATM machines in all of Syria. More Israeli companies IPOed on the Nasdaq last week.Or perhaps you would care to visit southern Israel, where most of the Middle East's agriculture is grown in the barren desert. I defy you to find a rich plain in the Arab world which is half as fruitful. Uris accurately depicts the Palestinian situation. There are good people, and they are overcome by a decaying and backward culture. The truth can hurt, but decrying it as inaccurate, with no evidence to the contrary, does a disservice to Uris as a writer and to anyone interested in learning about the remarkable confluence of strange cultures that has led to the current Israeli-Palestinian crisis.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, Prejudices
Review: The Haj although extremely biased towards the Palestinians, annd Muslims in general, still was an interesting and compelling story. The book portrayed Arabs as a blood thirsty, primitive people, an represented the Jews as being benevolent kinly people. Despite these aggregious flaws I still enjoye the book. The book had a good story, a good writing style, and good characters.
Rating: 
Summary: Author can't decide on a style
Review: The characters in the book couldn't seem to decide whether they were highly stylized larger (or smaller) than life characters and that resulted in poor understanding of what the author was trying to say. I didn't get it. I enjoyed the book until what seemed like the author just lost interest, and found an ending with no meaning. I am going to read another Uris novel and see if there is a thread.
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Summary: Great novel and very enlightning
Review: Many of the reviews I read believe the author to be biased or even racist. While I cannot disprove those assertions, I must say that I came away from this wonderful story with a much better understanding of the problems in the mideast and specifically the plight and frustrations of the Palestinians. It is always dificult to know where facts end and fiction begins or indeed overlap. I believe Uris does a tremendous job of blending the two.
Rating: 
Summary: Historically inaccurate, highly biased and poorly written
Review: Pretending to be historical and based on fact this book mangled, twisted and plain invented much of the history. Speaking as an Israeli, reasonably educated in the history of the foundation of the State of Israel and the middle east conflict, I was shocked to see what this book offered as a historically based narrative. I am horrified to hear others describe this book as "historically accurate". Beware - you will not learn true facts from this book! The Haj is a poor excuse of a book Uris claims is based on "years of research" and which is plugged as "obviously based on an intimate grasp of the region, it's peoples, their tradition....". Uris's bias against the Moslems and his attempts to exalt the Jews at any cost, is sickening to me, as an Israeli Jew, and lends no merit to his cause. Anyone with a minimal grasp of the middle east conflict understands that the problem is nowhere near as simplistic or clear cut as it is portrayed. I also found the narrative long winded and shallow, the characters unbelievable and the writing style poor. I have enjoyed some Uris books in the past (Exodus, for example) but the Haj is trash!
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Summary: The story was good, but the book was extremely prejudiced!
Review: After reading this book, I felt that it was very good and deep.However, the more I reflect on it's content, I realize that it was a very racial book. It totally slashed the Arabs and lifted the Jews. If one isn't careful, one can start to accept the biased view of Leon Uris. Having never been to the Middle East, I feel that I cannot blindly accept his opinions on Islam and Arabs. He makes us feel that the Jews were such loving, caring people, but that the Arabs would slit anyone's throat for any reason. How can we, who may have never been in an Arab inviroment, blindly accept these "facts," without ever knowing the TRUTH! No one will know the real truth untill we are there experiancing it. Knowing the hatred that many uneducated people have towards the Arab population, I would not reccomend this book to everybody. In fact, I don't think that I could promate this book to anyone at all. I would feel horrible knowing that by reccomending this book, I was fueling hatred for the Arabs.
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent story -- not "hate literature"
Review: Uris' book is not 'hate literature' against Arabs or Islam. He tells the story of the establishment of Israel and its devastating impact on the Arab people then living in Palestine. The story is primarily told from the perspective of an Arab boy growing up during that time period. Uris contrasts and compares the lifestyles of the Western-oriented Jews and the tradition-oriented Islamic Palestinians. "The Haj" is heavily biased in favor of Israel, Judaism, and the West, but is also accurate in its portrayal of the Palestinian socio-political-economic system of the time. His description of Islam's influence on the lifestyle of Palestinian Arabs is highly unflattering and Western culture-biased: a worst case scenario of the application of Mohammed's teachings. However, it is not entirely unfair or totally inaccurate. While there is much more to Islamic society than Uris describes, many of the same conditions and beliefs detailed in "The Haj" continue to prevail in the 'outback' regions of Arab countries. Uris clearly casts the Jews as the 'good guys' and the neighboring Arab nations as the 'bad guys.' He places the Palestinians somewhere in the middle: a 16th century culture/people caught up in a 20th century conflict, not of their making and beyond their ability to influence.
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Summary: the book is "hate literature" against arabs and muslims
Review: I read this book and being an American student of Politics i must say that it is a balant form of "hate literature" if written by an arab against jews it would probably be banned in most countries. it was an engrosing story and quite interesting but he portrays so many Arabs and Muslims as such horible people that you can't escape the outright insults to them in any chapter. He does such a good job story telling and forgets to point out that it's mostly fiction, the fact that the palestinina refugees were actually kept out by the isrealis (not the arabs) is never actually mentioned, and the only one masacare commited by the jews is to be found for the many that he claims the arabs commited. Now although the story was good there is too much Anti-islam/arab feelings portrayed that I can't hope to recomend it to anyone, it is a sublte form of brainwashing. If i didn't study politics and history myself i would have beleived it. there is just too much Hate to make this book acceptable
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Summary: The Haj is yet another excellent Leon Uris Offering
Review: The Haj is typical of an Uris novel: engrossing, well narrated, exhaustively researched, and thickly plotted. The book offers a brilliant, if a bit biased, look at the formation of the Jewish state of Israel in the Palestine from the viewpoint of an intelligent Arab boy. The story is very deep, yet flows smoothly, avoiding the common, and dare I say it, Michenerian tendency to get too caught up with details and research. I found myself amazed at the volume of really good, historically accurate information that I was absorbing from the plot. The Haj, like other Leon Uris novels, is a bit Judeo-centric, but that can't be counted as a fault. In fact, what really draws me to his novels is that when I look at my shelves to choose my next story, I know that if I pick one of his, I'll see an old situation in a wonderful new light. Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable read.
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Summary: Blatant bias leads to disappointment
Review: I enjoy fiction based in a historical setting because it is entertaining but also educational. The Haj was entertaining, the story moved well, the charactors were interesting and it gave a acute perspective on the life of a Palestinian refugee and the struggle for survival. As a book of fiction it was a interesting read. However, Uris' description of the Arab's way of living, from the very negative description of Islam and of Arab family values left me disappointed. His descriptions were so negative that there accuracy clearly came into question. As a result I began to question the whole integrity of the book from a historical perspective which diminished my enjoyment significantly. I am now hesitating reading another Uris book because I don't want to have a similar experience, particularly when there are many other authors to choose from.
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