| The Avon Lady |
05-01-06 08:10 AM |
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Originally Posted by Catfish
On "Eurabia":
Reviewer: Eric Kvaalen (Paris, France)
"Bat-Ye'or" wants to convince us that Islam has a stranglehold on Europe, that European politicians have been turned into submissive "dhimmis", and that all their policies on the Israeli-Arab dispute are dictated by the Arabs. She wants us to believe that Europe is motivated only by fear of losing their source of oil, fear of terrorism, and a desire to form a European-Arab axis to stand up to America.
Bat-Ye'or conveniently ignores whatever goes against her thesis, or else gives a very contrived interpretation of things. She is totally one-sided in her approach to the Arab-Israeli problem, never admitting that Israel is at all to blame. She believes that the Jews were simply exerting their rights when they took over most of the Holy Land (after campaigning hard to have the UN divide it into two states--a fact Bat-Ye'or ignores).
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Wow! It was the British who initially forumulated the partion. Jews were already living here and tons of Arabs came after the Jews began making swaplands and deserts bloom.
What exactly did the Jews do in the summer of 1929 and numerous times afterward that made the Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini call upon all Muslims to slaughter the Jews?
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I am somewhat sympathetic to some of Bat-Ye'or's opinions, but I disagree with those who praise her analysis and her writing.
In general I find the book quite poorly written. A discerning eye will notice that she is presenting biased points of view as though she is presenting facts. This really diminishes her credibility, so that I don't trust her when she's talking about things I don't know much about.
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Not even one example. Aha. I see.
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There are also quite a few sentences that are not well written. Sometimes she says really ridiculous things and gets herself tied up into knots. She gives me the impression of a not-very-good high school student who is trying to write a paper in support of a certain position, and who tries to think of every possible thing that could be interpreted as supporting her position!
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Tell me, is this your idea of an intelligent book review? Casting snide remarks? No example of the materials being referenced to?
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So generally, I do not find her very convincing when she says that Europe has simply buckled and surrendered to the Islamic jihad. There is certainly some truth to the idea that Europe has been influenced by the desire to please the Arabs, but that is much too simple an explanation of history.
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And the reviewer's explanation? None given.
Aha, I see - again.
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Bat-Ye'or is obviously not the right person to analyze the question of to what extent Europe is bowing to pressure and to what extent it is acting on good will and conviction. She paints everything the Europeans do as cowardice.
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Cowardice, poorly cloaked as appeasment. Not hard to see at all.
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I think this book is written for those who already think like her, and anybody else would find it practically useless. The amount I found interesting could have been written in a few pages."
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Next time, maybe she'll include pictures and illustrations for this reviewer and others with a short attention span.
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Maybe you should not always read the books that tell you what you already think
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This is a book that claims certain historical facts. If you wish to disprove any of them go right ahead.
So far, you're running on empty. |
