Enjoyed this book. It spells out in a very organized and clear way what it sets out to do. I wish there was more!

Israel is occupying Palestine and that's why the international community has said in hundreds of declarations that Israel's occupation is illegal.

To think that occupation is not a form of aggression is silly. Was Iraq's occupation of Kuwait not aggression? Was the U.S. occupation of Iraq peaceful? Are the Chinese occupying Tibet peacefully?

Read this book if you want to, but Israeli historians like Ilan Pappe (see The ethnic cleansing of Palestine by Pappe) can tell you better than revisionist historians about the history of Israel.

Regardless of the actual content of the book, or the argument that Mr. Meir-Levi tries to make in his book, the text itself has one irrefutable mark against it: The academic quality is poor.
The author fails to provide citations for a vast number of quotes and ideas that cannot be paraphrased from historical record and, when he does cite a source, the source is often from a self-published book or freelance-journalist wesbite.
Whether you agree with what Mr. Meir-Levi says or not, no one can make an argument that this book stands up to the test of Academic Standards for a paper. I sincerely doubt that even Mr. Meir-Levi would accept a paper of this quality from his students. Take this into mind when reading the book.

No history isn't upside down. It's right side up. Palestinians are the rightful native inhabitants of their lands and Israel is a racist Apartheid regime. All the construed lies and arguments in the world won't change that, and the Palestinians aren't going anywhere. But I guess that doesn't matter if you're a RACIST.

There were a few times in my life when I bought several copies of a book and gave them to my friends. Mordechai Roshwald's Level 7, Misha Glenny's The Fall of Yugoslavia and Kathrine Taylor's Address Unknown come to mind. David Meir-Levi's History Upside Down is just such a book. Feels like distributing it among fiends abroad, as well as Israelis, die-hard Meretz voters. It is short, informative and true.

Having lived in Israel now for the 1ast 12 years most of the material was familiar. But I did not know that General Giap consulted Arafat. Here is a quote from page 28: " Ho's chief strategist, General Giap, made it clear to Arafat and his lieutenants that in order to succeed, they too needed to redefine the terms of their struggle. Giap's counsel was simple but profound: the PLO needed to work in a way that concealed its real goals , permitted strategic deception, and gave the appearance of moderation: "Stop talking about annihilating Israel and instead turn your terror war into a struggle for human rights. Then you will have the American people eating out of your hand."

If the Israeli government had any sense of PR they would buy the copyright and put the text to the book online on the web. Perhaps this would be a drop of truth in the sea of nonsense published daily in the world about Israel by people who have no clue. On the other hand, I am beginning to doubt that any rational fact filled analysis will do much against what Paul Johnson called "The Anti-Semitic Disease". But if there is a book which stands a chance to shake the world out of its hypnotic trance concerning Israel - this is it.

This book was truly an eye-opener for me. I read it at one sitting, in a cafe, it was so engrossing. The author, a brilliant American-Israeli Professor of History, brings to light many little-known facts having to do with the origins of the Middle East conflict which, if they were understood, would place the affair in an entirely different perspective. As the author makes clear, the subtitle is completely apt. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, during the era when "Palestine" was administered as a British mandate, was in cahoots with Hitler. There were many massacres of peace-loving Jewish settlers. Also, Yasir Arafat was in the employ of the KGB, who had videotapes of him "in flagrante delicto" with boys supplied by the Romanian monster Ceaucescu from his hellish orphanages. Such FACTS, as indeed they are, give the lie to the myth of Israeli "aggression", as indeed the so-called Palestinians are nothing of the kind, i.e., they have no independent identity. It was entirely fabricated by Arafat and promoted by the Arab League as a way of delegitimatizing Israel. These people are actually much better off under Israeli rule, which demonstrates that Israel needs to be ENLARGED, rather than have its territory stolen by the United Nations (i.e., have a Palestinian terrorist state forced upon it). The "Palestinian Authority", under Arafat, stole billions of dollars from its own people that were intended for infrastructure and the like, and then, of course, they blame the Jews for their own misery - and the world buys the lie! Incredible!

Thank you, Professor Meir-Levi, for your courage in writing this fantastic book. I look forward to similar works from your pen in the future, and I will recommend this book to all of my friends and wide acquaintanceship.

This small work contains a concise and accurate description of the way the Arab-Islamic and Radical Left worlds have combined to turn the historical truth upside - down, demonize and isolate Israel. It tells how Terror, both physical and intellectual have become the weapons of choice of the Palestinian Arabs and their supporters. It shows how they have used a bogus 'human rights' strategy to promote their undermining of support for Israel. It touches upon the historical roots of the conflict, and even exposes the nefarious role played by the Mufti in supporting the Nazis, and leading to the destruction of Jews in Europe. It points out how the historical efforts of Israel to compromise have been met by an Arab insistence on Israel's disappearance.
This book should be sent to every media person who deals in any way with the Middle East. A highly recommended work.

At the outset of this gripping, well written study the writer declares that the "basic script" of the Middle East conflict has changed over the last generation.

The author maintaining that the fundamental issue in the Middle East today is the same as it has effectively been since the Muslim invasion in the seventh century. That being the hatred of the Jews. Although the writer admits that such is routinely denied by apologists for the Arab/Islamic world, the book proceeds to examine a number of relevant issues which support this particular outlook.

The book examines, how in recent times, the Arab war against the very existence of the Jewish state, has been waged for sixty years without a let-up. The text highlighting how Islamic/Arab leaders allegedly still yearn for their own "final solution" of the Jewish problem.

The attention of the reader is drawn to how, today, it is expediently overlooked that in 1948 there would not have been one single Arab refugee - not even one - had the Arab states not chosen to go to war in defiance of a United Nations resolution with the declared aim of destroying the newly reborn State of Israel.

With Israel being restored to areas of it's ancient Biblical homeland during the 1967 conflict the reader is also shown how since that time the perception of the region, and that of the international community, has changed. The writer citing how prior to the Six Day War,the aggressors were purportedly seen as Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq etc.. These nations being seen then as the aggressive "Goliath" as opposed to the lesser "David" of Israel. By comparison, today the new "David" are the Palestinians, and Israel has become the new threatening aggressive "Goliath".

The book pulls no punches as the reader is shown how for decades the Arab world sought to eradicate the Jewish state. After military failures the Arab world constantly inventing new public relations themes, new form of disinformation or new ways to misrepresent the Arab war against Israel.

The book revealing how the "Palestinianization" of the campaign of Arab aggression arose from a realization that you can allegedly further your agenda far more successfully through the political goals of self-determination than with declarations of intended genocide.

The very adoption of the "Palestinian cause" then becoming the fig leaf for the Arab war against Israel. A cause which has cloaked it's parallel agenda with political and media spin that has completely distorted the public's perception of what is really going on in the Middle East.

The reader is made aware of how basic historical truths and absolute facts relating to the Israeli-Palestinian/Arab conflict are being ignored or trodden underfoot. Through the media and political theatres, the perception of the Western public being slanted by a series of half-truths, selective omission and some basic untruths that allegedly serve to further the International interests of a plethora of nations.

The reader becomes aware how it has been readily forgotten that the Israeli government, together with many International entities, only agreed to recognise and speak to Arafat/PLO at the very outset, on the firm agreement that they refrain from and utterly renounce terrorism and attend the negotiating table. Instead, the PLO still embraced terrorism and walked away from the negotiating table in favour of violence.

The Israeli government while acting in self defence, then being subjected to widespread international criticism, with even it's sovereign right of self defence being brought into question. Palestinian violence now being seen as "legitimate" and any Israeli act of self defence being the issue brought into question. History and the present indeed being turned "upside down" as the title of this excellent work suggests.

The media theme shown to be that Israel alone is allegedly responsible for the turmoil in the Middle East and that Israel alone holds the key to peace/stability and then subsequently portrayed as an outlaw state. This creating an international climate of anti-Israeli sentiment, that the Arab/Islamic world is intent upon using towards the eradication and annihilation of the Jewish state.

Various stages of the so called "peace process" are analized. Not least of these is the Palestinian refugee problem, which the study cites as being created by the Arabs themselves while flouting UN Resolutions, international law and their refusal to accept the existence of ANY Jewish state in 1947/8. A problem of their very own making, that they have been successful in deceiving the international community into placing unjust blame upon Israel.

It is clear from the contents of this study that Palestinian demands, plus those of the Islamic/Arab world, do not and will not end at the 1967 border. The text revealing how umerous groups have repeatedly reaffirmed a strategy of conquest of Israeli territory in stages, and the present generation of Palestinians being indoctrinated in the belief that Israel, all of it, is theirs.

Arafat himself, on the same day that he shook hands with the Clinton/Rabin on the White House lawn, declaring in Arabic to a Jordanian audience that all Israeli ground ceded to him under any peace treaty, would be used as a stepping-off point to obtain more territory and the eventual eradication of Israel.

May I respectfully recommend the following books to those interested in the history and context of the conflict and subjects addressed in this study by David Meir-Levi. Thank you.

"A History of Palestine; 634 - 1099" by Moshe Gil.
"Empires Of The Sands; Struggle For Mastery In The Middle East, 1789 - 1923" by Efraim & Inari Karsh
"The Palestine War 1948; Arab - Israeli Conflict" by Efraim Karsh
"Fabricating Israeli History; The `New Historians' " by Efraim Karsh
"Battleground; Fact & Fantasy In Palestine" by Samuel Katz
"Arafat's War" by Efraim Karsh
"Islam & The Jews" by Professor Mark Gabriel
"The Nazi Connection to Islamic Terrorism: Adolf Hitler and Haj Amin al-Husseini" by Chuck Morse.

In this short but highly instructive book David-Meir-Levi deals with the phenomenon of how the truth of history has been turned upside down by the Arabs/Muslims and their allies on the international left.
Historical revisionism of the worst kind has been so successful that at the United Nations, the world media and university campuses around the globe, Israel under genocidal attack since it's birth has been presented as a "Colonial oppressor", an "Apartheid State", "Racist" , "Fascist" and "Imperialist".
Israel, living in the shadow of the Holocaust have in a bizarre and sick twist of rhetoric and propaganda even been frequently branded as "Nazis".
The author "Arab propaganda under Communist tutelage transmuted the unacceptable anti-Semitism into justifiable anti-Zionism, and turned an odious Jew-hatred into a politically correct Israel-hatred".

Meir-Levi describes the machinations of of the Mufti Haj Amin Al Husseini, his instigation of and planning of the 1920, 1921, 1929 and 1936-1939 pogroms in which hundreds of Jews were butchered by Arab terrorists.
The author points out the extensive use of swastikas, portraits of Hitler and Nazi imagery during the 1936-1939 "Great Arab Revolt" of 1936-1939.
He traces Al Husseini's close collaboration with Hitler and Eichmann. Al Husseini was one of the originators of the systematic destruction of European Jewry and was a close associate, confidante and advisor to Eichmann. He organized the Bosnian Muslim SS Hanjar divisions that annihilated 90% of Bosnian Jews and persuaded the Axis powers to prevent any Jews leaving Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria diverting hundreds of thousands of Jews to the death camps. Eichmann recounted "We have promised him (the mufti) that no European Jew would enter Palestine anymore."
A more detailed account of the history of the Mufti and Hitler can be found in The Nazi Connection to Islamic Terrorism: Adolf Hitler and Haj Amin al-Husseini.

During the 1961 Eichmann trial in Jerusalem, Hannah Arendt commented on the astounding degree of anti-Jewish venom and praise for Hitler in the Arab press together with regret that he "did not finish the job".
40 years later the state-controlled Egyptian daily Al Akhbar (April 18, 2001) declared "Our thanks to the late Hitler who wrought, in advance, the vengeance of the Palestinians upon the most despicable villains on the face of the earth. However we rebuke Hitler for the fact that the vengeance was insufficient".
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said of the Jews after the 2006 Lebanon War "If they gather in Israel it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide" and former Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani thundering his aims of a second holocaust and final solution declared "The use of nuclear bomb in Israel will leave nothing on the ground, whereas it will only damage the world of Islam."
The author describes how the PLO was a brainchild of the KGB working with Nasser, how the Vietnamese Communists and Romanian dictator Ceausescu persuaded Arafat to repackage his propaganda so that the Arab onslaught against Israel would be transformed in the world imagination as an anti-colonial struggle by the "oppressed Palestinians".
He outlines the support given by the Communist bloc to the Palestinian terror networks such as the PLO and PFLP, and the Arab campaign to drown Israel in blood.
The author carefully debunks the Arab hoax that "the Zionists stole our land", and reminds us how many times the Palestinians turned down the opportunity of obtaining a Palestinian State alongside Israel, as they were determined to destroy Israel and replace her with a Judenreihn "Palestine from the river to the sea".
In this they have been diabolically supported by the International Left.

Meir-Levi also outlines the truth about the much maligned security fence which has saved tens of thousands of Israeli lives and been dubbed by Israel's enemies as 'The Apartheid Wall".
Clearly the opponents of the barrier believe that Israeli lives are far less important than Palestinian inconvenience.
They also ignore the fact that many other countries have security barriers, some far more formidable than Israel's provisional fence.

The book traces how the evacuation by Israel of ten thousand Jews from Gaza and the handing over of Gaza over to full Palestinian control led to a renewed war by the Arabs of Gaza against Israel's people sending thousands of rockets into Israel with the aim of killing and maiming Israeli men, women and children.
Over 1800 Israelis (mainly women and children) have been killed since Arafat launched a war of terror against Israel's people in 2000, and thousands more maimed and injured.
The author finally points out that the incitement to genocide by the likes of Hezbollah's Nasrallah and Iran's Ahamdinejad may strip away the illusions of a struggle for Palestinian "liberation" and "national aspirations" and re-situate the Arab/Islamic Jihad against Israel with it's true roots- that of the Nazis and the Muslim Brotherhood.
If university departments had any interest in a true representation of the history and facts of the conflict, this would be a prescribed book, but unfortunately on most universities the aim is the opposite- venomous propaganda.

This book is a must read for those interested in the real nature of the Isreali/Arab conflict and its history. I was aware that the P.A. even after Oslo continued to act like they were more interested in destroying Israel than in building a viable state. I was aware that there has never previously been a Palestinian State in history. But I was not aware that the origin of the P.L.O. and its original master was the K.G.B. I was not aware of the ties between the Muslim Brotherhood and Nazi Germany. This book is well-written and well-documented.

With all the billions and weapons the Israelis get, with all the mothers, children, and other Palestinians killed, with all the annexed lands and the settlements built, we still hear the argument that the Israelis are suffering from "negative propaganda" and they still are the victims. When is the world going to wake up and at least implement UN resolutions.

Has the author ever heard of the Negroponte doctrine?

This is an excellent little tome - with facts galore, and just the right size to pass on to all your "friends in denial" who believe in a "balanced" approach to the Palestinian "problem." Now I'm waiting for a similar book exposing all the attempts to curtail freedom of speech and impose shari'a law in the West, one step at a time. That would be a great pairing!

The book is short, you'll finish it within the day and it'll be worth it. The only reason I'm giving it four stars is because it is so short, I would have liked even more information and more endnotes, especially when the author mentions how much influence the KGB and the Soviet Union had on the PLO, but that's just me. Overall this book reaffirms facts and ideas that I've at times forgotten.

The propaganda campaign against Israel has been in full force for decades and is paying off quite well for the "Palestinian" government and its representatives. The multiple times that Israel has tried to make peace are recounted, only for the PLO and Arafat to reject it out of hand because Israel cannot exist for peace to exist. The idea that Israel is responsible for the refugee problem is discussed, it isn't Israel's fault that over half a dozen Arab nations decided to wage war against them and tell the Palestinians to leave so that they'd have an easier time killing and purging Jews from "their" land. The various hypocritical stances that world and the UN takes in regards to Israeli actions, while at the same time ignoring what's going on in the rest of the world should be nothing new but it helps to be reminded of it.

Thus far Israel is the only nation that has waged a war, won a war, and offered to return land for peace. It is high time that people understand that such a peace is not possible if the current situation in the middle east remains as it is. If the Israelis attack terrorists they are viewed as colonizers bent on genocide, if they offer peace and retreat from conquered territory they are viewed as weak and defeated by the terrorists. Israel has been on the front lines in the "war against terrorism" that the US has just joined, battling double standards and hypocrisy along the way.

David Meir-Levi is a serious historian. Most commonly historians write for other historians in a dry manner. David Meir-Levi, in his book History Upside Down, does what others have failed to do -- write in a clearly and concisely, showing how historical records demonstrate the true history of Israel and the Arabs war against the Jews.

There are two victims of Arab Islamo-fascism: the Jews of Israel and the Arabs of Palestine. David Meir-Levi book illustrates how time after time the Arab leadership rejected peace overtures, instead continuing their war against the Jews and Arabs of Israel.

Now is the time for the Palestinian people to recognize that their "leaders" do not want peace and do not want an independent Palestinian state. Now is the time for them to bring about a new Palestinian leadership that rejects the old teaching of hatred and war against the Jews taught in their mosques and on their government television stations.

Likewise, now is the time for the world to recognize that the suffering of Arabs and Jews in the Middle East is a symptom of Arab's war against the Jews.

It is incredible that in this day and age, there are still excuses and justifications made for what is essentially a racist supremacist state, one that goes against all international human right obligations and erodes the fabric of secularism in society. For shame that people would pander to such blatant religious fundamentalism in the guise of appealing to emotion.

This short book summarizes some rather obvious truths about the Arab-Israeli conflict. I'm giving it five stars only because many of these truths are disputed in what ought to be respectable places.

The first chapter traces the roots of some of the Arab anti-Israeli aggression to the German National Socialists. The second chapter shows an additional source of inspiration for these aggressors, namely the Communist Soviet Union. As Meir-Levy explains, the Levantine Arabs have never had a sovereign state. Nor have they been a people or a nation, or even claimed to be one prior to the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. When the West Bank was controlled by Jordan, there was no move to liberate that land from Jordan: Arafat's gang had designs only on Israel. The author claims that Arafat in fact created "the only national movement for political self-determination in the entire world, and across all of world history, to have destruction of a sovereign state and the genocide of a people as its only raison d'etre." I think that's pretty much the case, although some national movements, such as that of the Sudeten Germans, have been similar in some respects.

The focus of the third chapter is on Hamas. Israel at first hoped that Hamas might be a counterweight to Arafat's organization. But when Hamas began a long series of deadly terror attacks, Israel outlawed it, in 1989. Here, Meir-Levy points out that "perhaps the most valuable asset of all for Hamas has been the United Nations.

Chapter Four discusses a very specific lie, namely, "Zionists stole our land." And while it is true that from the year 1880 to 1930, about eight hundred families were indeed rendered landless by Jewish land purchases during that time, these were in fact legal purchases. I would add that the presence of the Jews improved the economy and caused an increase, not a decrease, in the Arab population.

Yes, there was a flight of Arabs in 1947 and 1948, but that was brought about not by the Zionists, but by Arab aggression, which caused the Jews to defend themselves. The resulting war did cause many Arabs to flee, but this was in no way a Jewish plot to steal land! Yes, I am sure that many Zionists dearly wanted to buy more land, but once again, I favor legal purchases of land and I think it is outrageous to call such purchases (especially when one is the high bidder and pays high prices) "theft."

The fifth chapter is about the Levantine Arab refugees. As the author tells us, the State of Israel was not responsible for the refugee status of these people, and it is a malicious lie to say otherwise. In fact, I would remind people that Israel has been reprimanded by the United Nations when it has tried to get Arabs to be resettled and out of the refugee camps.

These days, some revisionist historians imply that there was a master Israeli plan to massacre Arabs and ethnically cleanse the region. But the author replies that at the time, there were "no reports in the world press, including the Arab press and those elements of the Western press openly hostile to Israel, about any such actions of which Israel today stands condemned." Yes, there was a battle at Deir Yassin (prior to the establishment of Israel), but that was not part of some overall plan of this sort. And even the battle of Deir Yassin has been badly misreported by those who wanted to show Israel in a negative light.

The final chapter is on one more myth, namely that of colonial occupation. It includes a discussion of the Israeli West Bank towns, which have been branded by some folks as "illegal" settlements.

I think it ought to be obvious that we humans are better off with truth than with lies, no matter what it is we wish to accomplish, and I think this book is useful in distinguishing between truth and lies. I recommend it.

David Meir-Levi succinctly---and convincingly presents the case that Israel is the victim of an organized slander campaign. It did not begin yesterday. The slandering began well over seven decades ago. History has indeed been turned upside down. A large number of Westerners, perhaps even the majority, perceive the Arab religious and secular militants as freedom fighters against Israeli imperialism. The Arabs were supposedly robbed of their land and dignity. Both the Communists and the Nazis taught them how to employ the rhetoric of victimization to further their goals. "Stop talking about annihilating Israel," advised North Vietnam's General Giap, "and instead turn your terror war into a struggle for human rights. Then you will have the American people eating out of your hand." No truer words were ever spoken. This is definitely the consensus opinion of the hard Left and Right within the United States. The entire book contains only 131 pages. It is, as far as I'm concerned, the best short work available to offer well meaning individuals confused by extremist propaganda.

This is the best book on the Arab-Israeli conflict since "Battleground" by Samuel Katz in 1985, because it effectively makes the rarely-heard case for Israel. A short book, it shows concisely how and why the popular arguments against Israel are false. The first half documents the cultural and historical sources for the Arab determination to destroy Israel. Although we are gradually learning about the dangers of religious fanaticism among Arabs, most people today are unaware of the Palestinian Arab collaboration with the Nazis during World War II or how their leaders were later trained and directed by communists in the Soviet Union for their own ideologically-driven goals. These goals include spreading egregious lies and false narratives to fool the ignorant. The second half demolishes the standard accusations against the Jewish state made by anti-Zionists and anti-Semites, such as the topics of refugees, "occupation," settlements, and whether the land was "stolen." Relying entirely on facts and logic, this rhetoric-free book makes an excellent resource for preparing to debate the Middle East. The only fault with the book: no maps!

This is the best book on the Arab-Israeli conflict since "Battleground" by Samuel Katz in 1985, because it effectively makes the rarely-heard case for Israel. A short book, it shows concisely how and why the popular arguments against Israel are false. The first half documents the cultural and historical sources for the Arab determination to destroy Israel. Although we are gradually learning about the dangers of religious fanaticism among Arabs, most people today are unaware of the Palestinian Arab collaboration with the Nazis during World War II or how their leaders were later trained and directed by communists in the Soviet Union for their own ideologically-driven goals, which produced egregious lies and false narratives to fool the ignorant. The second half demolishes the standard accusations against the Jewish state made by anti-Zionists and anti-Semites, such as the topics of refugees, "occupation," settlements, and whether the land was "stolen." Relying entirely on facts and logic, this rhetoric-free book makes an excellent resource for preparing to debate the Middle East. The only fault with the book: no maps!

This is the best book on the Arab-Israeli conflict since "Battleground" by Samuel Katz in 1985, because it effectively makes the rarely-heard case for Israel. A short book, it shows concisely how and why the popular arguments against Israel are false. The first half documents the cultural and historical sources for the Arab determination to destroy Israel. Although we are gradually learning about the dangers of religious fanaticism among Arabs, most people today are unaware of the Palestinian Arab collaboration with the Nazis during World War II or how their leaders were later trained and directed by communists in the Soviet Union for their own ideologically-driven goals, which produced egregious lies and false narratives to fool the ignorant. The second half demolishes the standard accusations against the Jewish state made by anti-Zionists and anti-Semites, such as the topics of refugees, "occupation," settlements, and whether the land was "stolen." Relying entirely on facts and logic, this rhetoric-free book makes an excellent resource for preparing to debate the Middle East.