This book is a welcome addition to the field of Francophone studies, which has not given due attention to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. After an introduction by the editor entitled “France and the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict,” the volume is divided into five chronological parts: part 1, “Alternative History of Zionism and the Jewish Question, 1914–1950;” part 2, “Francophone Literature and Cinema on the Conflict, 1957–2000;” part 3, “Violence, Martyrdom, and Terrorism, 1970–2007;” part 4, “Muslim–Jewish Relations in France, 1990–2008;” and part 5, “Judeocentrism, Anti-Semitism, and French Intelligentsia, 2000–2008.”

While such a topic cannot be exhausted in a single volume, one would expect more balanced coverage. Unfortunately, that is not the case. One example of this imbalance is found in the introduction, in which Albert Memmi's negative view of the condition of the Arab Jew and support for Zionism are given prominent attention. Yet, his contemporary, Edmond Amran El Maleh (a Moroccan Francophone Jewish writer strongly opposed to Zionism), is nowhere mentioned in this volume, despite recent critical attention and acclaim given to his work by Francophone scholars. Another regrettable omission: none of the essays focuses on Francophone Palestinians. Some of this disparity is due to the material analyzed. For instance, Denis Charbit's “Dual Narratives on the Middle East Conflict: Analysis of a French Literary Genre, 1967–2006” points out that no Palestinian has taken part in the genre of dual narratives he describes. Nonetheless, a prominent Francophone Palestinian writer such as Elias Sanbar surely deserves more than a couple of cursory references in the introduction. Likewise, the numerous references to Alain Finkielkraut's work, which reflect his vocal bearing in France on the issue, should have been put in perspective.

Moreover, the title sets out expectations that are not met. While a footnote in the introduction specifies that, for this collection, the term Francophone refers to North Africa and its diaspora, it would have been more accurate to alter the title of the volume accordingly. Similarly, the piece on “Israeli–Palestinian Conflict in France: A Conflict in Search of Novelistic Representations” only takes Jewish writers into consideration and should have been titled accordingly.

Nonetheless, there are some outstanding essays on a variety of topics. Ethan Katz traces Jewish–Muslim relations in France from the First to the Second World War to demonstrate that both the Vichy government's collaboration with the Nazis and the French colonization of North Africa function as “haunting specters” that inform contemporary tensions over the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Lincoln Shlensky takes up the same subject in Francophone cinema by analyzing the lack of and repression of the link between the conflict in the Middle East and contemporary France and Europe in recent films by Karin Albou, Philippe Faucon, Michael Haneke, Jean-Luc Godard, and others. Lamia Ben Youssef Zayzafoon focuses on Francophone Tunisian literature and contrasts Albert Memmi's reproduction of European discursive categories of the Jew and the Arab–Muslim with writers such as Gisèle Halimi, Hédi Bouraoui, and Fethi Benslama, who subvert and reinvent them. Esther Benbassa's “How One Becomes a Traitor” is a captivating personal account of the reception of her scholarly work on Jewish history in France. Other fine contributions include Fethi Benslama on suicide attacks, Bruno Chaouat's on Jean Genet, Maud Mandel's “The War Comes Home: Muslim–Jewish Relations in Marseille during the 1991 Gulf War,” and Nacira Guénif-Souilamas's “Jews and Arabs in Postcolonial France: A Situated Account of a Long Painful Story of Intimacy.”

The other essays bring up interesting issues but tend to be wanting for various reasons. The reader is left wishing for more depth and analysis of the second phase in Albert Cohen's Zionist writings, as presented in Philippe Zard's chapter. Johann Sadock's personal essay would have been greatly enhanced had he delved deeper into the issue of why public Jewish figures did not do more to expose the plight of minorities in French suburbs. Jeffrey Mehlman's reliance on a psychoanalysis that obfuscates historical facts does little to make the reader understand the “new Judeocentrism” his contribution sets out to illuminate. Cyril Aslanov's contribution on Slimane Benaïssa lacks focus and abounds in debatable statements. Lawrence Schehr's contribution seems out of place, as it never refers to the conflict that is supposed to be the topic of the volume. In sum, this is a collection with several must-read pieces that should spur more scholarship.