Forgot to add another part here. Two things: first of all, if Shlaim is the only historian making this connection, there should not be a 'New Historians claim', but rather 'New Historian Avi Shlaim claims'. Secondly, I can't see how the claim is relevant at all to this article. Purity of Arms was written in 1994, as a result of the First Intifada, and as far as I know, no person other than Shlaim claims that it should or did apply to any period before that. If indeed no one person makes this connection, then I believe this is undue weight in the article, and a fringe viewpoint.