In The New Criterion, Dalrymple reviews the new book The Eyes of Gaza and offers a severe critique, arguing that the book substitutes therapeutic self-expression and moral posturing for analysis, proportion, and historical understanding.

Unfortunately, self-pity is inimical not only to self-knowledge but also to a proper understanding of the world, or even to an awareness that we should strive for such an understanding. It brings in its train other undesirable traits, such as self-satisfaction, moral complacency, and a blindness to the need for perspective. It elevates emotion over rationality, precisely when the latter is most needed.

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