Why It's So Hard to Write About Israel

I rarely write about Israel.  It's important politically, but intellectually for me a bit of a bore. What more can be said about the country that has not already been said, especially the Arab-Israeli conflict of which the Palestinian problem is the core? You could pile the books, papers, and articles from floor to ceiling on the topic. Israel-Iran?  It's covered. The ethnic and sectarian differences in the Holy Land? It's been done.  Israel's changing demographics?  Lots of smart folks have weighed in. The durability of the Egypt-Israel peace treaty after the Egyptian uprising?  I am sort of/halfway intrigued, but only because I once drank the water from the Nile and now I can't quit Egypt.  Every now and again though, something comes across my desk on Israel that interests me.  In the last week or so, colleagues have suggested I read two short opinion pieces-one by Avi Shlaim Emeritus Professor of International Relations at Oxford University, and one by the New Yorker's David Remnick. Both pieces were a revelation--who writes better than Remnick?--but not necessarily because they offered any new or interesting insights about Israeli politics or society, but rather because of the fascinating way Shlaim and Remnick treat their subject.