Holy Land, Whose Land?
Dorothy Drummond
(Guest Reviewer - Norman Goldman)
2004 FairHurst Press
ISBN: 0974823325

Modern Dilemma, Ancient Roots. Where is the Holy Land, who owns it & why there has been conflict over it since the beginning of time.

Guest Reviewer - Norman Goldman writes:

I realize there are many, many people who have no idea about the historical significance of the geography of the Middle East. For these readers Dorothy Drummond's Holy Land Whose Land should prove enlightening.

Even though many of the author's observations tend to be simplistic & apparently devoid of scholarly substantiation or rigorous research, Drummond does admit to the complexity of the subject matter. In her introduction she writes: “what started out as a simple account of my travels has become far longer and more complicated than I had originally intended.”

The objective of the book is not to answer the rhetorical question posed in the title of the book, rather, it is an attempt to shed some light onto the various elements of the conflict, & perhaps create a better understanding of the terrible dilemma facing the Palestinians & Israelis each & every day.

The structure of Holy Land, Whose Land? is divided into three parts:
  a) an overview of some of the details of the present day Israeli/Palestinian conflict while placing it into the present-day context.
  b) a survey of the roots of the conflict dating back four thousand years, to clarify various elements such as religion, conquest & politics that have contributed to the uniqueness of the land.
  c) why the conflict has been co-opted, & why negotiation is its only solution.

It should be noted that initially the author had planned only to write an account of her travels in the Holy Land, however, this was transformed into a book containing the above elements with her own experiences interspersed in italics.

Immediately upon reading the first section of Holy Land, Whose Land?, we are exposed to a cursory description of the present day political & sociological landscape of the Middle East. We are also reminded that the term Holy Land is not solely confined to the State of Israel, as it is a broader view of a land that is under the political jurisdiction of six entities: Israel, the fragmented territories of the Palestinian authority, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, & Egypt. These are the principal actors & this is one of the compelling reasons why the solution to the problem is so elusive.

In the second & third parts of Holy Land, Whose Land?, we are given a succinct crash course on the Old Testament, the Greeks, the Romans, Jesus Christ, the New Testament, Islam, the Prophet Mohammad, the Crusaders, the Turks, the English Mandate & the initial years of Israel, modern Israel, Sharon & Arafat. Wow! Quite an undertaking! Although I must admit for the uninformed, it does serve as a good primer.

The author astutely concludes “the holy land is living history -- past, present and future -- forever linked.” Sadly, as I a write this review, the ghosts of past wars continue to prevail, with no solution in sight.

Drummond is to be commended for having undertaken such an ambitious project, & Holy Land, Whose Land? is quite accessible to the average reader, although, due to the magnitude of the subject matter, there is a tendency to skimp on analyzing, in more detail, the historical contexts in which many of the events occurred.

No doubt a daunting task, since Drummond's Holy Land, Whose Land? attempts to trace a history from the time of Abraham to the present day. This is, perhaps, one of the reasons why authors limit their writings to defined historical periods.

Holy Land, Whose Land? is an informative, broad overview about how the conflict we observe daily, arose.
(07/28/02)

Guest Reviewer - Norman Goldman
2002©Norman Goldman