A useful tome destined for the library section that will not be frequently visited for it lacks the needed compelling clarity that can move the contentious sides to arrive at the peace that eludes them.
Miller must stipulate more recent salient points than the 3,500 year-old divine promise to the patriarch Abraham of a land variously called Canaan, Land of Milk and Honey, Judea, Palestine (of old), Zion, or Israel (of old and the contemporary reincarnation).

Expelled and persecuted, the solution of a Jewish homeland begins with Theodore Herzl, a visionary who coins Zionism, and a receptive Ottoman Empire willing to sell and revitalize sand dunes of today's centenary Tel Aviv to settlers streaming from and escaping the brutality of another --- 19th century czarist Russia.

During WW I, and anticipating the Mandate it was to receive, as Turkey was dismembered for having chosen the wrong side, Britain's Foreign Secretary Lord Arthur Balfour, on November 2, 1917 issues his fateful declaration intending an eventual Jewish homeland in Palestine.

Trouble soon ensued, as an awaken Arab mass, soon to be awash in the valuable industrial commodity that petroleum became, began to agitate for restrictions in Jewish immigration --- the British eventually acceding to the demand in an infamous White Paper. One can only speculate what might have been, the Holocaust prevented, had there been a Jewish destination in Israel in the 1930's for the soon-to-be-condemned European Jews! In the event, and while their brethren were being slaughtered by Hitler, a Jewish brigade was organized and attached to the British Army during WW II.
With the issue of the future of Palestine too hot to handle the newly-reorganized United Nations, and in Solomonic fashion, voted on November 29, 1947 for the precursor to a two-state solution, a Jewish and a Palestinian entity. A much small original Israel was accepted by the Jewish population, whereas the Arabs gave a categorical rejection sparking the first in a series wars in 1948.

The conundrum confronted us today with the settlements has its origin to the 1967 Six Day War, Israel prevailing and confounding Arab plans "to throw the Jews into the sea." Then, flushed with victory, Israel was still pragmatic to offer the return of all conquered territories in exchange for the normalcy of negotiation, diplomatic recognition, and an end to belligerence. In a wisecrack attributed to Golda Meir, the Arabs never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity, meeting in the Khartoum conference to declare the infamous "NO" to all suggestions for peaceful coexistence!

It was then that the Palestine Liberation Organization, with its murderous chair Yasir Arafat, began its career of terrorism, and Israel, in defense of a prospective war, and to establish "breathing space" between the West Bank and its population centers along the Mediterranean Sea, strategically encouraged the building of settlements.

In time, and with peace agreements, the Sinai Peninsula was returned to Egypt, and a working understanding was reached with Jordan. Additionally, and unilaterally, the Gaza Strip was returned to the Palestinians.

Millions WW II refugees have been absorbed in Europe and elsewhere, however the Palestinians living outside Israel have been intentionally kept in camps in host Middle East countries to suffer --- preferring to score political points. Hundreds of thousands Jewish refugees from Arab nations lost their possessions as they restarted their lives in Israel.

More than the manageable problems of Jerusalem, compensation for refugees, and freezing of settlements, there must be, long last, an acceptance of Israel's right to exist (a concept widely debated still); a demilitarized Palestinian state, and a systematic effort to expunge Arab societies the contagions of anti-Semitism (in books, classrooms, streets), authoritarian rule (clerical, military, monarchical), corruption, misogyny as a start.

Thus shall the day come in our life when commerce, education, and political civility will replace extremism, violence, and intermittent bloodshed.
Prof. Asher J. Matathias
Woodmere, NY