Blood And Religion ─ The Unmasking of the Jewish And Democratic State

Just as Israel has built concrete and steel walls around the Palestinians of the Occupied Territories, so too have they built a "glass wall," seemingly invisible to outside observers, around the Palestinian citizens of Israel proper, depriving them of meaningful political power and equal rights. So argues Israel-based journalist Cook, whose analysis of the glass wall is placed within the context of the wider Israeli-Arab conflict. He documents the unequal status of the so-called Israeli Arabs and argues that the unwillingness of the Israeli state to grant its Palestinian citizens equal rights is rooted to its fear that that Israeli-Palestinian demographic growth will undermine Israel's ability to present itself as "Jewish and democratic." He further warns that the increasingly abusive treatment by Israel of it Palestinian citizens since the beginning of the Second Intifada and its increasing willingness to label them "Palestinian" rather than "Israeli-Arab" portends an Israeli plan to attach detach citizenship rights from its Palestinian population and transfer them to a rump state formed from the Occupied Territories in order to maintain Jewish privilege. Distributed in the US by the U. of Michigan Press. Annotation c2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)