Israel/Middle East (News & Politics)/You miss understood me

Advertisement

Expert: Don Radlauer - 6/3/2009


Question
You see I am going to make a presentation to a large group in my school and I'm trying to gather information about the subject so i am knowldgeable when I make this presentation, so my question stands whether you awnser, or no.

Answer
Dear Evan -

Your question is so broad that even to begin to answer it, I'd have to write a book or two. Instead, here are four recommended histories of the region:

A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East by David Fromkin http://tinyurl.com/osowww

The Middle East by Bernard Lewis  http://tinyurl.com/pg6ojz

A Brief History of the Middle East: From Abraham to Arafat by Christopher Catherwood  http://tinyurl.com/omgulr

A History of the Modern Middle East by William L. Cleveland  http://tinyurl.com/qz8rq3

I'd suggest reading one or two of these to get a decent grounding in the subject. If after doing that you have some more specific questions, I'll be more than happy to answer them.


Best regards,

-Don Radlauer

Israel/Middle East (News & Politics)

All Answers

Answers by Expert:

Ask Experts

Volunteer

Don Radlauer

Expertise

I`m originally from the United States, and now make my home in Israel - after living for some years in Hong Kong and England. In addition to handling general questions about Israeli life and history, I can field questions relating to strategic aspects of terrorism and counter-terrorism, as well as some tactical aspects. As an Associate of the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT), I can draw on ICT`s accumulated expertise in this area. As the Lead Researcher for ICT`s "al-Aqsa Intifada" Database Project (and author of "An Engineered Tragedy", ICT`s report on the findings of this project), I have become the world`s leading expert (indeed, as far as I know, the world`s only expert) on the demographics of the victims of the phase of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that began in September 2000. Going beyond terrorism per se, I can answer questions regarding pretty much all aspects of the Israeli-Arab conflict.

Experience


Experience in the area
I've lived in Israel for over eight years.
For more than five years, I have been associated with the Institute for Counter-Terrorism at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel. My own role there is, to a degree, that of "expert in everything else" - that is, I'm less of a security expert than many of the other researchers there, but I have a broader background in other areas, including banking and finance, general scientific subjects, and so on. I also can draw upon the knowledge of other ICT staff.

Publications
ICT website, http://www.ict.org.il

My blog, "On the Contrary: Don's Mideast Musings" is at http://radlauer.blogspot.com .

©2012 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.