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The title of this book is taken from the reported dialogue between two rabbis visiting Palestine in the nineteenth century, when one observed that the land was like a bride, ‘beautiful, but married to another man.’ To press this analogy further, Arab theologians have described the land as ‘competitively loved.’ And therein lies the problem.

Jerusalem-born Ghada Karmi was forced to leave her birthplace, together with hundreds of thousands of others, in 1948. The first three chapters, ‘The Cost of Israel to the Arabs, Why do Jews Support Israel?’ and ‘Why does the West support Israel?’ cover, in some senses, familiar territory. The historical background to the two state solution proposed in 1947 and its subsequent development has been well rehearsed by Naim Ateek, Michael Prior, Riah Abu El-Assal, Donald Wagner and others. Her treatment of this area is more journalistic than academic, and its strength is that her account is deeply personal. She offers important psychological insights into grievance in acknowledging that resolution cannot come without acknowledgment of wrong and harm done.

Ghada Karmi’s analysis of the Peace Process in Chapter 4 is a devastating critique of the Palestinian leadership, describing Arafat’s position as ‘capitulation.’ The strength of this book lies in the analysis of the more recent attempts at ‘peace’ including the Road Map, which she describes as ‘destroying the Palestinians’ before going on to describe the two-state solution as now ‘no longer feasible or desirable.’ In this, her opinions are shared by more and more people who work at this problem on the ground.

The strategic importance of Ghada Karmi’s analysis lies in her advocacy of the One State solution, worked out in detail in Chapter 7 and onwards. She does not give a blueprint, but aims to open a debate on its possibilities, describing this as ‘not magic, but strategic’ thinking. Here, we have the strategic dream, ‘The reunification of Palestine’s shattered remains in a unitary state for all its inhabitants, old and new, is the only realistic, humane, and durable route out of the morass.’ Reading this important book will encourage all who wish to see a durable peace for this competitively loved land.

William Taylor