My Promised Land

A groundbreaking and authoritative examination of Israel by one of the most influential columnists writing about the Middle East today.Facing unprecedented internal and external pressures, Israel today is at a moment of existential crisis. My Promised Land tells the story of Israel as it has never been told before, and asks difficult but important questions: Why did Israel come to be? How did it come to be? And can Israel survive?Through revealing stories of significant events and lives of ordinary individuals — the youth group leader who recognised the potential of Masada as a powerful symbol for Zionism; the young farmer who bought an orange grove from his Arab neighbour in the 1920s, and helped to create a booming economy in Palestine; the engineer who was instrumental in developing Israel’s nuclear program; the religious Zionists who started the settler movement — Israeli journalist Ari Shavit illuminates the issues and threats that Israel is currently facing and uses the defining events of the past to shed new light on the present.The result is a landmark portrait of a small, vibrant country living on the edge, whose identity and presence play a crucial role in today’s global political landscape.

'Spellbinding ... Mr Shavit is that rare person who can listen as intensely as he can think', ‘[Shavit’s] accomplishment is so unlikely, so total — a history of Israel and Zionism written by an unapologetic and impassioned lover of his country who nonetheless fully registers the disasters inflicted on Palestinians — that it makes you believe anything is possible, even, God help us, peace in the Middle East … His book is not just enthralling, but morally dignified … by some light years, the best thing to have been written on the subject.’, ‘[An] immensely powerful book … Shavit resists the binary simplicities that afflict so much discussion of Israel-Palestine. His book will provide ammunition both to those who despise Israel and those who revere it, telling of its darkest deeds as well as its shining triumphs. Propagandists for both sides, who resemble each other so closely, could cherry-pick favourite facts to buttress their view — but both will end up disappointed … Shavit might be the first such voice from deep inside the Zionist mainstream to speak so directly of the events the Palestinians regard as the nakba, the catastrophe.’, ‘This honest, searing analysis of Israel’s position in the Middle East is an engrossing book. There is humanity and geopolitics in every chapter.’, 'I can think of no better time for a good book about Israel — the real Israel, not the fantasy, do-no-wrong Israel peddled by its most besotted supporters or the do-no-right colonial monster portrayed by its most savage critics. Ari Shavit, the popular Haaretz columnist, has come out with just such a book ... The uniqueness of Shavit’s book is that when you’re done with it you can understand, respect or love Israel — but not in a dogmatic or unthinking way, and not a fake or contrived Israel. Shavit celebrates the Zionist man-made miracle — from its start-ups to its gay bars — while remaining affectionate, critical, realistic and morally anchored … It’s why his book is a real contribution to changing the conversation about Israel and building a healthier relationship with it. Before their next 90-minute phone call, both Barack and Bibi should read it.'

Ari Shavit is a leading Israeli columnist and writer. Born in Rehovot, Israel, Shavit served as a paratrooper in the IDF and studied philosophy at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In the early 1990s he was Chairperson of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, and in 1995 he joined Haaretz, where he serves on the editorial board. He is married, has a daughter and two sons, and lives in Kfar Shmaryahu.