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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 acclaimed Army of Shadows,told how this hidden history played out from 1917 to 1948, and now, in Good Arabs he 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 and prompted the reclassification of many of the hundreds of documents Cohen viewed to uncover a story that continues to unfold to this day.
Hillel Cohen, an expert on the relations between Zionism and Israel with Palestinian Arabs, focuses in this study on the relations between the Israeli authorities and Israeli Arabs during the period from the creation of the state of Israel until the Six Day War (1948-1967). The study is based primarily on declassified top-secret documents of the Israeli police and prime minister's office; excluded are the classified files of the General Security Service and of the IDF. The book includes a bibliography, detailed notes, illustrations, and an index. Cohen starts with an examination of the rise of the collaborator class: how the authorities forced their will on individuals by economic and administrative means and how collaborators and their community benefited at times from their actions. Another important topic is the role of the Communist Party, which during this period was the main channel for national expression among Israeli Arabs, despite the authorities' attempts to create pro-government Arab parties. Cohen examines the Arabs' point of view regarding border infiltration, namely, the wish of refugees to return to their villages, work their fields, and unite with their families. As for the Druze mandatory military service, Cohen shows that it was not easily accepted by all Druze leaders and community members, contrary to the official Israeli public narrative. This is a very important study, scholarly yet accessible to all levels of readers. It is full of revelations on the past which can help understanding future developments between the state and its Arab citizens.Rachel Simon
