Good Arabs

Based on his reading of top-secret files of the Israeli police and the prime minister's office, Hillel Cohen exposes the full extent of the crucial, and, until now, willfully hidden history of Palestinian collaboration with Israelis-and of the Arab resistance to it. Cohen's previous book, the highly acclaimedArmy of Shadows,told how this hidden history played out from 1917 to 1948, and now, inGood Arabshe focuses on the system of collaborators established by Israel in each and every Arab community after the 1948 war. Covering a broad spectrum of attitudes and behaviors, Cohen brings together the stories of activists, mukhtars, collaborators, teachers, and sheikhs, telling how Israeli security agencies penetrated Arab communities, how they obtained collaboration, how national activists fought them, and how deeply this activity influenced daily life. When this book was first published in Hebrew, it became a bestseller and has evoked bitter memories and intense discussions among Palestinians in Israel. It also prompted the reclassification of many of the hundreds of documents Cohen viewed to uncover this story, one that is central for understanding the development of Israel and one that continues to unfold to this day.