Friday, April 20, 2012

Muslim Moderate Publishes Landmark Book


Dr. Hassan Barari

"Israelism": Hassan Barari and Why He Gives Me Hope -Ed Rettig

Dr. Hassan Barari, a Jordanian-born professor of political science at the University of Nebraska, is committed to "peaceful coexistence and historical reconciliation between the Arabs and the Israelis." His new book, Israelism, addresses "the underdevelopment of Israeli studies in the Arab world."

Barari divides Arab academic work on Israel into three overarching "hegemonic discourses" - Marxist, pan-Arabist, and Islamist. He shows how scholars in each sector fail to account for Israeli resilience, not to mention success, because they set out to make a case rather than to investigate a subject.

He also points to the connection between shallow analysis by scholars and bad decision-making in the Arab world.
The writer is director of the American Jewish Committee's Jerusalem Office.
(Times of Israel)
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2 comments:

LHwrites said...

Interesting and important but seems unlikely to build an Arab coalition.

Bruce said...

Its significance lies beyond building a coalition. Scholars generally agree that moderate Muslims make up a majority of their world population. However, they lack any strong institutional voice. Thus, the significance of this book is in reinforcing this important voice.