SOURCE: "Shadowboxing," in Commentary, Vol. 61, No. 1, January, 1976, pp. 89-92, 94.

In the following review of Arabs and Israelis, Lewis criticizes Friedländer for inadequately defending Judaism and Israel against the arguments of Marxist Arabs.

It was in 1939, I think, that the Arabs for the first time officially refused to talk with the Jewish Palestinians. Their intransigence began, at any rate, years before there were Arab refugees, or occupied territories, or even an independent Israel. What did exist at that time was the claim of Jewish entitlement to basic rights in Palestine and a Jewish demand for self-determination, equality, and freedom from Arab rule. These were ideas so unexpected and so shocking to the Arab mind that, apparently, no compromise with them could be imagined and no discussion was thought possible.

Since then, the Arab policy of non-communication has become fixed in the public awareness and any conversation between an...