I LEFT SOUTH AFRICA 37 YEARS AGO because I was a Zionist. More importantly, I could not live with Apartheid. Israel is not South Africa and Zionism is not Apartheid. But there are trends afoot that could lead Israel into a South African-type dilemma. Unless they are recognized and identified, and their consequences understood, Israel's slide into a discriminatory society is almost assured. Will Israeli society allow that to happen? That is an answer I need to first find for myself.

Written by a respected Israeli journalist, Let Me Create a Paradise is a rivetingly personal exploration of the Jewish state's fundamental choice: democracy or territory? It is also very much Goodman's own story, told with humour and warmth: from his South African childhood, where he was schooled in the Zionist rhetoric of equality, social justice and democracy while watching black prisoners dig his older sister's swimming pool, to his idealistic flight to Israel, where he became an elite paratrooper, serving in the Six-Day War. Increasingly disturbed by the aggressive growth of tiny Jewish settlements and a brutalized Palestinian people, Goodman instead became an influential journalist--one with an intimate knowledge of Israel's troubles and triumphs. From accounts at the frontlines to a behind-the-scenes look at peace summits with Sharon, Arafat, Sadat, Netanyahu, Rabin and Barak, Goodman brings a reasoned, human voice to a volatile, seemingly insolvable conflict.