Occupier's law : Israel and the West Bank /

Shehadeh's study complements Moron Benveniste's The West Bank Data Project: A Survey of Israel's Policies (1984), which also covers subjects such as alienation of Arab lands, Jewish settlement, and Israel's administration of the occupied territory. Shehadeh includes a more lengthy and detailed description of how the Arab judicial system has deteriorated under military control and of the impact of occupation on the indigenous West Bank Arab population. Shehadeh makes extensive use of vignettes to illustrate his charges against the occupation, especially in discussion of human rights violations. He describes a variety of violations, including mistreatment of prisoners, deprivation of water, demolition of homes, censorship of press and school texts, closure of schools and universities, harassment and torture of students, and manipulation by Israeli military authorities of local governmental institutions. Shehadeh concludes that all these violations are part of the plan to annex the territories gradually and incorporate them into Israel. Despite the measures taken to control the West Bank territory and population, the author argues that the tide is not irreversible, thus indirectly taking issue with Benveniste. Finally, Shehadeh accuses the US government of dereliction of responsibility in much of the present situation and failures to improve it. The book would have been considerably enhanced by a bibliography and index, or at least an appendix identifying many of the court cases cited. For all levels of readers.-D. Peretz, SUNY at Binghamton