Zionism and its Discontents: A Century of Radical Dissent in Israel/Palestine, by Ran Greenstein (Pluto Press, £16)

THIS enormously important book is essential reading for anyone wanting to get to grips with the history of anti-zionist political movements in both Israel and Palestine.

It's not an easy read but in a sense that is quite appropriate. Many of the issues that the left has had to deal with in the region are by no means as simple as some would have us believe and that is as true today as it was prior to the formation of Israel. Greenstein divides his study into four main areas, with the first two covering the history of binationalist and communist groups up until 1948.

The third looks at Palestinian left-wing groups after the "nakba" and the fourth charts the rise and subsequent fall of the Israeli new left, with a particularly focus on the small but surprisingly influential Matzpen group.

On the whole it's a fair and balanced overview. Greenstein's knowledge of key groups and individuals is encyclopaedic and his early notes on Palestine during the British mandate are nothing short of excellent.

He also brings to life complex debates on the left and the unbelievably difficult conditions it had to work in. Solidarity activists who have a tendency to look at Palestinian society purely from the perspective of, say, Fatah should be made to read the pages on groups such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and its offshoot the Democratic Front.

Both have had a huge political effect and the latter was the first in the contemporary period to pioneer a two-state solution from a left perspective.

Greenstein questions throughout parallels we sometimes draw with the anti-apartheid movement and often with good reason.

He concludes by noting that many of the groups discussed have since collapsed.

But it's a shame that he's chosen to ignore developments in the communist parties after 1948 in the region and there's a definite tendency to devalue the hard-won gains that they've made by treating them as natural, almost taken for granted, features of the political landscape.

And the author devotes far too much time to minor Trotskyist organisations who, as always, have been long on rhetoric but short on achievement.

Today, the reality is that discussions about national self-determination largely centre on the occupied territories and political movements argue on the basis of human rights instead of class. Revolutionary groups have failed to bring about the changes that are so desperately needed.

But, as Greenstein points out, at least they've been asking the right questions.