ISRAEL & PALESTINE.

The article discusses the book "Israel & Palestine: Why They Fight and Can They Stop?," by Bernard Wasserstein. This book challenges the conventional view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as driven primarily by irrational, nationalist and religious ideologies. It focuses on hitherto relatively neglected dimensions--population, land, labour, and the social dynamics of political change. It maintains that Israelis and Palestinians live today in "Siamese twin societies." However much they may wish to, neither side can escape the impinging presence and influence of the other.