Based on the reading of top-secret files of the Israeli police and the prime minister's office, this book exposes the full extent of the crucial, and, until now, willfully hidden history of Palestine's collaboration with Israelis—and of the Arabs' resistance to it. A previous book, Army of Shadows, told how this hidden history played out from 1917 to 1948. Now, this book 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, the book brings together the stories of activists, mukhtar ... More

Based on the reading of top-secret files of the Israeli police and the prime minister's office, this book exposes the full extent of the crucial, and, until now, willfully hidden history of Palestine's collaboration with Israelis—and of the Arabs' resistance to it. A previous book, Army of Shadows, told how this hidden history played out from 1917 to 1948. Now, this book 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, the book 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. It evoked bitter memories and intense discussions among Palestinians in Israel, and prompted the reclassification of many of the hundreds of documents the author viewed to uncover a story that continues to unfold to this day.