My Promised Land

'Israel is not a proposition, it is a country. Its facticity is one of the great accomplishments of the Jews' history ... It is one of the achievements of Ari Shavit's important and powerful book to recover [that] feeling.' -- Leon Wieseltier * New York Times Book Review * '[A] gale of conversation, of feeling, of foreboding, of ratiocination takes a wide-angle and often personal view of Israels past and present, and frequently reads like a love story and a thriller at once. That it ultimately becomes a book of lamentation, a moral cri de coeur and a ghost story tightens its hold on your imagination.' -- Dwight Garner * The New York Times * 'I can think of no better time for a good book about Israel the real Israel, not the fantasy, do-no-wrong Israel peddled by its most besotted supporters or the do-no-right colonial monster portrayed by its most savage critics. Ari Shavit, the popular Haaretz columnist, has come out with just such a book ... The uniqueness of Shavits book is that when youre done with it you can understand, respect or love Israel but not in a dogmatic or unthinking way, and not a fake or contrived Israel. Shavit celebrates the Zionist man-made miracle from its start-ups to its gay bars while remaining affectionate, critical, realistic and morally anchored Its why his book is a real contribution to changing the conversation about Israel and building a healthier relationship with it. Before their next 90-minute phone call, both Barack and Bibi should read it.' -- Thomas Friedman * New York Times * '[O]ne of the most nuanced and challenging books written on Israel in years [The] book's real power: On an issue so prone to polemic, Mr Shavit offers candour.' * Wall Street Journal * [A] searingly honest, descriptively lush, painful and riveting story of the creation of Zionism in Israel and [Shavits] own personal voyage He tells the story passionately and from both perspectives. The moral ambiguity he describes is powerful. * The Washington Post * 'Spellbinding ... Mr Shavit is that rare person who can listen as intensely as he can think In this divided, fought-over shard of land splintered from the Middle East barely seventy years ago, Mr Shavit's prophetic voice carries lessons that all sides need to hear.' * The Economist * [Shavits] accomplishment is so unlikely, so total a history of Israel and Zionism written by an unapologetic and impassioned lover of his country who nonetheless fully registers the disasters inflicted on Palestinians that it makes you believe anything is possible, even, God help us, peace in the Middle East His book is not just enthralling, but morally dignified by some light years, the best thing to have been written on the subject. -- Simon Schama * Financial Times * [An] immensely powerful book Shavit resists the binary simplicities that afflict so much discussion of Israel-Palestine. His book will provide ammunition both to those who despise Israel and those who revere it, telling of its darkest deeds as well as its shining triumphs. Propagandists for both sides, who resemble each other so closely, could cherry-pick favourite facts to buttress their view but both will end up disappointed Shavit might be the first such voice from deep inside the Zionist mainstream to speak so directly of the events the Palestinians regard as the nakba, the catastrophe. -- Jonathan Freedland * The Guardian * 'Ari Shavits My Promised Land is without question one of the most important books about Israel and Zionism that I have ever read. Both movingly inspiring and at times heartbreakingly painful, My Promised Land tells the story of the Jewish state as it has never been told before, capturing both the triumph and the torment of Israels experience and soul. This is the book that has the capacity to reinvent and reshape the long-

Ari Shavit is a leading Israeli columnist and writer. Born in Rehovot, Israel, Shavit served as a paratrooper in the IDF and studied philosophy at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In the early 1990s he was Chairperson of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, and in 1995 he joined Haaretz, where he serves on the editorial board. He is married, has a daughter and two sons, and lives in Kfar Shmaryahu.