Boasting superficial knowledge of geopolitics and having only a vague idea of who are the players involved in the Middle East Conflict at best, it was with some hesitation that I decided to give this book a try. I was quite convinced that I will probably abandon the book halfway, but reasoning that since the good Library Delivery Service had gone to some trouble to deliver the book to me, I decided not to let it go to waste.
Surprise surprise! As of now I have yet to finish it,but what I have read has captured my attention since, because I have yet to put down this book during my spare time for another.
The book's actually a series of essays that attempt to show the reader that the portrayal of Palestine in the Israel-Palestine conflict has been grossly manipulated by "scholars" (quotation marks entirely intended) and the US mass media. That Palestine has actually been unfairly characterised as the "terrorist" in this conflict through conscious and deliberate misinterpretation of information, as well as withholding of crucial information.
Frankly I do not know of the authenticity of this claim, hence I do not know if the essays can be taken for face value. After all, if the authors can claim that most articles hitherto written on the subject are actually heavily biased and myopic and have little basis in fact, who's to say that they themselves are not guilty of the same thing? I can only wonder.
Be that as it may, I find this book a compelling read, if only to open my eyes -- or more accurately, remind me -- of how events can be skewed by the mass media (and other media) for their own ends.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (well, I haven't finished it!)
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