Joel Kovel argues that the inner contradictions of Zionism have led Israel to a ‘state-sponsored racism’ fully as incorrigible as that of apartheid South Africa and deserving of the same resolution. Only a path toward a single-state secular democracy can provide the justice essential to healing the wounds of the Middle East.

Kovel is well-known writer on the Middle East conflict. This book draws on his detailed knowledge to show that Zionism and democracy are essentially incompatible. He offers a thoughtful account of the emergence and disintegration of Zionism that integrates psychological, political, cultural, economic, and ideological levels.

Ultimately, Kovel argues, a two-state solution is essentially hopeless as it concedes too much to the regressive forces of nationalism, wherein lie the roots of continued conflict.

Joel Kovel has served as a professor in Psychiatry, Anthropology, Political Science, Social Studies and Communications. He is currently editor-in-chief of Capitalism Nature Socialism (http://www.cnsjournal.org/). Kovel has developed his distinctive approach, which draws on both psychoanalysis and Marxism, across a wide range of publications. His ten books include The Enemy of Nature: The End of Capitalism or the End of the World? (2002), White Racism: A Psychohistory (1970) and Red Hunting in the Promised Land: Anticommunism and the Making of America (1994). Kovel is also a political activist and a media commentator.

Prologue
Part One COMING TO ZION
1. A People Apart
2. The Unnatural History of a Bad Idea
3. The Spectre of Shoah
Part Two THE JEWISH STATE
4. The Only Democracy in the Middle East
5. Facts on the Ground
6. Partners in Zion
7. Bad Conscience and State Racism
8. Slouching Toward Jerusalem
Part Three ZIONISM OVERCOME
9. Beyond the Two-State Solution
10. Palesrael: A Secular and Universal Democracy for Israel/Palestine
Bibliography
Index