Lords of the Land by Idith Zertal and Akiva Eldar Reviewed in the New York Times

October 12, 2007 2:55 pm henrymunsonjr National Religious (Religious Zionists), Settlers, Israeli-Palestinian conflict

This review does not do justice to Zertal and Eldar’s book, which is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of the settlements. However, to really understand the settlers and their treatment of the Palestinians, one should supplement this book by Haim Yavin’s extraordinary series of DVDs entitled Land of the Settlers, for which Zertal and Eldar were consultants. Yavin conveys a sense of the conflict as understood and lived by both settlers and Palestinians in their everyday lives. Zertal and Eldar’s book is less human. But it puts the unforgettable scenes filmed by Yavin in historical perspective.

Lords of the Land - Idith Zertal and Akiva Eldar - Books - Review - New York Times, October 14, 2007

Across the Green Line, the West Bank, captured in 1967, is another country, neither Israel nor Palestine, but a lawless place, where the Jewish settler, rifle in one hand and prayer book in the other, is undisputed king. The settlers have their own roads, guarded by the Israeli Army, water, electricity, supplies and — occasional if well-publicized crackdowns aside — substantial impunity from the law. Much of the land on which their settlements stand, was, as Idith Zertal and Akiva Eldar detail in this important book, simply stolen. The settlements are illegal, in contravention of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which forbids an occupying power from transferring its civilian population to occupied territories. But for those who claim a divine mandate, the Geneva Conventions count for nothing. According to the United Nations, more than a third of the West Bank is now off limits to Palestinians. A web of Israeli Army checkpoints and obstacles further atomizes what is left of Palestinian society.

“Lords of the Land” is the first complete history of the settlement project. It provides a detailed narrative of injustice, and is profoundly depressing for anyone still hoping for a fair resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or even hoping that Jews and Arabs will be seen as equal in the eyes of Israeli law.

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