LONDON: "Few Israeli computer systems include Arab communities, because for most Jews they (Arabs) simply don't exist." That is just one of a series of observations running through Susan Nathan's new book "The Other Side of Israel: My Journey Across the Jewish/Arab Divide," to be published in September.

It is a damning indictment of the discrimination suffered by Israel's one-million-strong Arab population - a first-hand account of Israeli Arab suffering from the perspective of the only Jewish inhabitant in the 25,000 person Arab town of Tamra, a few kilometers outside Nazareth.

Nathan herself was born in England, but was brought up in Apartheid-era South Africa to be a committed Zionist. In 1999 she immigrated to Israel following the break-up of her marriage.

"I was raised on stirring stories of the great and glorious Jewish state," she writes early on as she describes the intoxicating feeling of finding herself among a Jewish majority for the first time. Soon, however, disillusionment sets in as she discovers the truth behind the vainglorious propaganda. Far from being a "land without people for a people without land," Israel is transformed in Nathan's eyes from the myths of her forefathers to a land that institutionally oppresses its own Arab citizens.

"The one million Arabs who share the state with Jews were invisible to me, as they are to almost all Israeli Jews. Their culture, their society, and their story were a mystery."

And so, Nathan sets off to unravel that mystery for much of her book, painstakingly recounting stories of Palestinians forced to flee their villages following the creation of Israel - and highlighting the extent to which the civil rights of the Israeli Arab population is debased to this day. Concentrating on the plight of the Palestinian population within Israel's borders, rather than those living under occupation in the West Bank and Gaza, Nathan blows away any lingering notion of a free and fair society, built on the principles of justice for all.

"The irony is that the abuses inflicted on Palestinians under occupation are far better-reported than the same abuses inflicted on Israeli citizens who are also Palestinians," she writes.

"What sane person would want to immigrate to Israel now?" Nathan asks during a telephone interview with The Daily Star. "It has nothing to offer except for destruction and a failed welfare state, but people are afraid to speak out against this."

Not Nathan.

Many of the book's most illuminating passages stem from Nathan's growing frustration over the militarized constructs of contemporary Israeli society, and the seeming failure to grasp the concept of equal rights for all of its citizens. One scene has her encounter a settler in a hospital, machine gun casually slung across his shoulder: "I never leave home without a weapon," he tells her in a thick American drawl, to which she offers the deliciously understated thought: "Why did I appear the only person on the ward who thought it strange for a visitor to arrive in hospital wearing a gun?"

"The ideology of Zionism has been outdated, bankrupt and dead for a long time now," Nathan says in a measured tone. "It's time for the state to ask how it wants to continue. We need to be a secular, democratic state."

The author's decision to live in the Arab town of Tamra - and her subsequent outcry against the apartheid she encounters there - earned her the enmity of many of her Jewish friends.

"Most were absolutely horrified. They didn't understand the degree of discrimination in the state against Arabs," she comments. "There is a militarist discourse in Israel. Jews are brainwashed to feel under threat. I was the same but the country needs more people to do what I did and speak out. We can't sit on the fence anymore. We must stand up for our beliefs."

Some of the facts presented in the book make for depressing reading, including the near-total exclusion of Israeli Arabs from public sector jobs. Nathan reveals that only six of the 13,000 employees of the Israeli Electricity Corporation are Arabs. Similarly she recounts the tale of Colonel Isachar Shadmi, who was responsible for the massacre of 49 Arab men, women and children in the village of Kafr Qassem in 1956. Shadmi's punishment: he was fined one piaster by the judges, the lowest sum possible.

"The Israeli public voted for Sharon, despite his appalling war crimes," Nathan says in the interview. "They were tricked into believing he was the only one who could crush the Palestinians and bring security. Everything here is about force."

Not that Nathan ignores the aftermath of suicide bombings and their affect on Israeli civilians. One passage recalls the devastation suffered by one friend after her son is badly injured in an attack. "He has undergone more than 35 operations to try to repair the damage done to his body. His father has suffered eight heart attacks. That suicide bombing has torn apart the lives of my friends as easily as a piece of paper can be ripped."

Much of Nathan's ire is reserved for what she sees as the failed political structure of Israel, and its over-reliance on a patriarchal order.

"There's no credible left. Look at Peres - where else would you see an 82-year-old man constantly maneuvering? It's not for the good of the country," she warns. "Women are under-represented. We have so much to offer in terms of making progress towards peace."

Most worryingly, she sees the planned disengagement from Gaza - of which she disapproves - as only leading to further violence and recrimination. "I see the makings of a huge intifada here, inside Israel. I don't understand why we'd even be surprised at it."

Over the phone, Nathan is especially keen to state how much she is looking forward to her book's release in Beirut, where it is scheduled to hit shelves in October. She is less sure of the book's reception in Israel, where it has been picked up by an English publisher, although she remains in negotiations with a Hebrew publisher.

"I'm prepared to do everything to show the reality of life in the state," she asserts with quiet determination. This aspect informs much of her writing style. While no great linguistic stylist, there is a refreshingly honest, no-frills aspect to much of book. Rather than attempt to impress the reader with elaborate flights of imaginative fancy, she keeps things simple, adopting an anthropological, school-mistress tone throughout, perhaps not surprising, given that she initially moved to Israel to work as an English teacher.

"I live what comes out of my mouth," she confirms. "I say it the way it is."

Ironically, the least satisfying portions of her book are the sporadic attempts to teach the reader about the ways of the Israeli Arab. Detailed descriptions of endless invitations to sup tea and other casual entries of daily life are a recurring motif throughout. Though undoubtedly illuminating for the uninitiated, for anyone with a passing knowledge of Arab culture and mannerisms, such moments slow the narrative down.

That gripe aside, however, Nathan's book is, for the most part, a passionate, thoroughly researched work - an important addition to the seemingly never-ending collection of titles on the Arab-Israeli conflict. Ultimately, what shines through is one person's searing commitment to exposing injustice and a poignantly personal account of seeing one's dreams shattered by reality. Her final comments, which she repeats twice as if to emphasize their importance, reveal the truly existential nature of the debate she has provoked.

"Until this society can produce a political system that draws conclusions from their personal experience then we won't have a society worth lamenting."

"The Other Side of Israel" by Susan Nathan is published globally by Nan. A. Talese on September 6.