last time i was in israel i picked up a few books in hebrew. mostly centered around israel's recent history.

the first one i read was "good arabs" by hillel cohen. it is based on documents from the israeli police and shin-bet services that were only recently declassified.

the picture the book paints is not one that will be easy to read for many israelis. while i personally give little credit to government agencies and don't buy the israeli myths around our superior moral standards, it was still surprising to learn how corrupt and immoral the israeli government was at the time.

one of the most disturbing revelations as far as i am concerned was the involvement of the israeli security services in trying to control the arab vote and direct it to the party in power (map"ai).

but more than anything it made me realize how inadequate are the history lessons that i got in school. now it looks to me as if i was subjected to propaganda. what you learn in school in israel is very one sided, trying to present the heroic efforts of the jews versus the heartless and barbaric arabs.

i think it will go a long way in making peace process and peace itself feasible if the history taught in schools was more objective, spending as much time on the way things looked to the arab population and the systematic mistreatment from the government.

the arabs are no saints, far from it. and even today their governments, religious leaders, media and general public are operating based on a moral code that is lagging several generations behind the west (yes, i do think there is such thing as moral and less moral cultures. don't buy the relativism approach).

this book is narrowly focused. i wish the school programs will teach some of its findings, but more importantly provide the true history of the early years of israel, the good and the bad.