Zealots for Zion: Inside Israel's West Bank Settlement Movement

On Israel's West Bank, Friedman visited dirt-poor Arab villages, which stood in stark contrast to the area's gleaming Jewish settlements, created from vast tracts of expropriated Palestinian land and guarded by anti-Arab vigilante forces. In a disturbing, timely report, he interviews determined Israeli settlers as well as hardworking ex-yuppies from the U.S. who sacrificed careers in America to build their version of an idealistic Zionist society in Israel's occupied territories. A Village Voice staff writer and biographer of Meir Kahane ( The False Prophet ), Friedman profiles Rabbi Moshe Levinger, father of Israel's settlement movement, who believes the Palestinians have no national rights whatsoever. Friedman also delves into Jewish zealots' efforts to ``redeem'' East Jerusalem's Old City from its Muslim and Christian inhabitants by buying up property. Finally, he documents American Jewish neoconservatives' campaign to intimidate and silence Israel's American Jewish critics during the 15 years of Likud party rule. He endorses Labor Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's peace proposal, whereby predominantly Arab areas under dispute would become part of a self-ruling, autonomous unit linked to Israel in a federation. (Nov.)