Product Description
Ilan Pappe's book traces the history of Palestine from the Ottomans in the nineteenth century, through the British Mandate, the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, and the subsequent wars and conflicts which have dominated this troubled region. The second edition of Pappe's book has been updated to include the dramatic events of the 1990s and the early twenty-first century. These years, which began with a sense of optimism, as the Oslo peace accord was being negotiated, culminated in the second intifada and the increase of militancy on both sides. Pappe explains the reasons for the failure of Oslo and the two-state solution, and reflects upon life thereafter as the Palestinians and Israelis battle it out under the shadow of the wall of separation. As in the first edition, it is the men, women and children of Palestine who are at the centre of Pappe's narrative. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A History of Modern Palestine
A very informative book. I'm much interested in, and concerned about, the subject. Ilan Pappe's book sets "a" / the history of modern Palestine as I heard from people who had lived in Palestine before 1948, and who were landlords and land owners, or else simple peasants. Though at times it seems pro-Palestinian, (therefore some would hastily say "anti-Jew") in fact the book does but pick up facts on how the Zionist project was to take over the land whatever price it might have cost (probably to flee the horror they experienced in Europe at the time): destruction of villages, terrorizing people so as they'd leave their houses and land or else proceed to ethnic cleansing, in the etymplogical sense of the term, that is. Ilan Pappe wonders, also as he develops much more in detail in his "Ethic Cleansing of Palestine", how the Zionists could have performed such a project, called at the time "Delta Plan", knowing what they had themselves suffered during the Second World War in Europe! No mistake about Pappe's "Jewishness": he never denies the legitimity of the State of Israel and always refers to Israel and Palestine at one and the same time, even defining what's Israel (politically) and what's Palestine (historically). Therefore he never denies the existance of the State of Israel. He only puts forward, and supplies references to historical documents as memoires and archives, the fact that Zionism had played a destructive role in Palestine. Both books are excellent and I very much recommend them for those interested in the subject.

Good Book, but not for beginners
Professor Pappe has bravely attempted to pull together a history of Palestine that admits to bad faith on the part of the founders of Israel,and he finds some possibility for reconciliation between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Many people who think that they already know the truth will find much to dislike in this book.People who are willing to admit the humanity of the other side and the failings of their own will find a lot to like in this text.
However, for those looking for a basic introduction to the history of this area, this is NOT your book.Professor Pappe assumes a great deal of background knowledge on the reader's part. This is a challenging text.It shows, among many other things, a history of spontaneous cooperation between ordinary Jews and Moslems and how the leadership of the two groups undermined that cooperation for their own selfish ends.Professor Pappe gives us all some reason to hope that real history can provide a place for reconciliation.

Revisionist History? He Cites Himself!
This book is a sad example of revisionist history gone badly wrong. Pappe's perspective is a legitimate one to take - part of his argument is the oft-heard "Israelis stole Palestinian land" thesis. However Pappe fails to back up his ideas with any legitimate facts. Yasir Arafat was born in CAIRO, not Jerusalem. He "invents" the Tantura Massacre, which no major Israeli or Palestinian histories have EVER cited before his book. This is a book frought with unannounced bias and a sincere lack of good research (at certain points Pappe even cites himself in "works not yet published"). This is at best a poorly researched attempt to present the Palestinian arguments, and at worst a farce of lies.

History of Modern Palestine
This book corrects myths about the very, very early days of Zionism in Palestine, and continues to the current time.A must read for anyone with the slightest interest in how the Middle East is exploding, literally, every day.Peg McCormack ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (3)

A Balanced Account
Content Summary:Kramer delivers what she promises:a history of the events that focuses mostly on the events from the Ottoman Empire to the founding of the State of Israel.Readers will learn something of both Jews and Palestinians and how power was exchanged from the fallen Ottomans to the British, and ultimately to the Jews who won the war of 1948.More ancient history (pre-Ottoman) receives some attention, but the book covers nothing after 1949.There is a great deal covered here for an intermediate length book!

Analytical Review:What readers will appreciate most about Kramer is her objectivity.It is hard to give a balanced account of this history that is not stilted towards Jew of Palestinian, but I believe Kramer has done just that.Kramer's book is mostly an engaging read and an important study.A few dry parts perhaps, but mostly very good.It is perhaps unfortunate that she did not go further to 1967 or later, but overall recommended.

A good start...
This book cuts through the propaganda. There are so many aspects to this story and unfortunately the west is fed only one.We don't learn the truth about it in schools, it's brushed under the rug in our history books.
I felt this book presented the truth, and was sympathetic to the plight and tragedy on both sides. Knowing BOTH sides is the only way to understand this conflict.

A Book to Avoid
According to Dr. Sondra Rubenstein (who was asked to review the book):

Islamic Studies Professor Gudrun Kramer's A History of Palestine begins with brief references to biblical times and then focuses on the period 1750 to 1948, the founding of the State of Israel.While ignoring vast amounts of historical evidence, her version of Palestine's painful history is based on carefully selected facts, making her framing and intent clear. While the author cites the continued presence in Palestine of small Jewish communities, she omits others.

Proof of her framing can be seen in the multiple mentions arguing that Palestine, while sparsely populated for much of its history, was never devoid of an Arab majority and that their Islamic culture was not stagnant.

Extensive archeological findings throughout Israel, attesting to a Jewish presence, are mostly acknowledged but summarily dismissed as postdating "Arab roots dating back over a millennium."

Thus, Masada, "whether it actually happened or not" (13), is simply identified as having been turned into "a symbol of Jewish national history." Qumran, for example, site of the Dead Sea Scrolls concerning the Essenes is not mentioned.This find was significant because it revealed more about the Essenes than any other Jewish group of the Second Temple period (which predates Islam by almost a thousand years, 536 BCE -- 70 CE).

Previous historians, Krämer states, criticized Ottoman rulers for their poor statistics (132) and their neglect of Palestine. However, "Critical historians no longer look primarily for external actors ... [but] pay greater attention to local or regional actors...." Thus, Prof. Krämer tells us, "the temporal horizon is broadened, and the boundaries of political change and economic revival are shifted."

Her conclusion is one example of her ignoring historical facts: "The year 1882--beginning of Zionist immigration--loses its status as the date of Palestine's entry into modernity" (40).

The book's theme laments the fact that Palestinian Arabs were disadvantaged as compared to the Jewish settlers, whom Prof. Krämer identifies primarily not as "Jews," but as Zionist settlers (269-270), perhaps implying an alien origin. At some point, however, she acknowledges that it became difficult to distinguish between them (290).

Krämer details the Jews' incredible effort, specifically during the 1920s and `30s, to develop the land, schools, universities, cultural institutions, libraries, industries and jobs, as well as to build new infrastructures, thereby improving the lives of the people (197-198).She also admits that the dynamism of the "Zionist settlers" attracted Arabs from neighboring countries to seek work in Palestine (113).In this regard, she laments the Yishuv's policy of preferring Jewish over Arab workers.

Regarding Israel's War of Independence, Prof. Krämer's research would have been improved had she read Harvard University's Prof. Nadav Safran's From War to War: The Arab-Israeli Confrontation. . . . Among the many unmentioned details in her book was the partiality of the British, who, on leaving Palestine, left vast quantities of military equipment and strategic bases, and flew reconnaissance missions for the Arabs throughout the war, providing them with critical information. Krämer's glaring omissions, innuendoes, and subtle historical distortions throughout this book diminish its potential value.

This review has been accepted for publication in an upcoming issue of The Historian, a journal of history published quarterly in the Unites States on behalf of the National History Honor Society, Phi Alpha Theta.
... Read more

Product Description
This important, wide-ranging book examines how Palestine became a Holy Land to Christians and how their ideas and feelings toward the land of the Bible evolved as Christians lived there and made it their own. Robert L. Wilken traces the Christian conception of a Holy Land from its origins in the Hebrew Bible to the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem in the seventh century and also discusses how Jews responded to the Christianization of the Land of Israel. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Excellent Scholarship
This is a very well written, scholarly work.The style is graceful enough that a laymen ca appreciate what is clearly a lifetime of work on Wilken's part, while also remaining useful to it's intended academic audience.

It is very important to note that this book only goes up to the Muslim conquest of 638/40.Do not get this expecting to get a picture of medieval or modern Christian beliefs of the Holy Land.This fact in particular makes some previous reviews of the book distressingly misplaced.If you are interested, as so many are after "the Davinci Code", in the origins of Christianity, this is an excellent, challenging, and scholarly work that will be well worth your time.If you are interested in the Crusades or the modern conflict over Palestine, this will serve as deep background, but you'll have to fill in the gaps with other books.

What?
I really don't know what the other reviewer here is complaining about.I can only assume that by "modernist," he means "scholarly."Wilken is a scholar of early Christianity primiarily and any quick look at what this book is about would indicate how the author intended to tackle the question of the Holy Land.Any complaint of a lack of discussion about Muslim-Jewish conflict is a misunderstanding: the book effectively ends with the Muslim conquest of Israel!It has an area of focus, which should be taken for what it is worth.

As a review of Christian interpretations and understandings of the Holy Land, the book is excellent, particularly for someone one terribly familiar with the field.The opening sections discuss Jewish understanding.Wilken goes on to briefly analyze the New Testament sources.A large section of the book is devoted to early church fathers (Origen, Eusebius, Irenaeus and Justin Martyr in particular) and their writings on the city and the holy land.Overall, my only complaint is that some more time and space could have been devoted to a discussion of New Testament sources.This would have been interesting, at least just to see Wilken's opinion on difficult passages.He stops well short of a real textual analysis, leaving some questions he raises unanswered.His use of a variety of sources is compelling, interesting and shows a commendable thoroughness.

As an introduction to a general study of the holy land in Christian perspective, it would serve anyone quite well.If you want to get more into interpretation of the NT sources, I have found PWL Walker's Jesus and the Holy City and WD Davies' The Gospel and the Land to be informative.The latter is older, but more thorough and, at least for me, comes across with less troublesome spots.

A modernist introduction to Christian Palestine.
While this book's topic is Christianity and Palestine, the author's impious approach makes it hard to understand why anyone would care that Muslims and Jews (not to mention the Crusader incubus of Latin"Christians") are forcing indigenous Christianity out ofPalestine.This book is worth reading as an introduction to Christianreverence for Palestine, but only for that. ... Read more

Product Description
This is the first comprehensive history of Palestine from the Muslim conquest in 634 to that of the Crusaders in 1099. Against a backdrop of the political and military events of this period, Professor Gil portrays the everyday life of Palestine. He looks at its economic activities including agriculture, exports and tax, as well as the religious status of Jerusalem and the customs of the Christian populace. The author pays specific attention to the history of Palestinian Jews under Muslim rule and details, among other things, their topography and religious life, the Karaite and Samaritan communities and the role of the most prominent Jewish institution, the yeshiva. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

An indispensable reference.
The reader is provided with what can only be described as a scrupulously documented and indispensable reference, that is a must read for any individual interested in a complete history of Palestine - especially in relation to the period dating from the Muslim conquest until that of the Crusaders.

Drawing on many historic Muslim, Christian and Jewish sources/texts/references, this study proceeds to reveal how the Muslim conquest of Palestine began before the death of Muhammad and how it subsequently subdued the population of Jews and Christians.

For the purposes of a review, it is impossible to refer to all the issues covered in a study of this depth and magnitude that spans nearly 1,000 pages, so for those interested I shall select only a few.

Early in this work, brief reference is provided to the events surrounding the Jewish revolt against Roman rule which culminated in 135AD with the "Diaspora", the renaming of the Jewish homeland as Syria Palestina (eventually anglicised into `Palestine') and the renaming of Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina..

The book documents how the period AD135 until AD638 saw the enforced separation of the Jews from Jerusalem and their most Holy site. Reference also being made to how this purportedly formed the integral basis of the convictions held by the "early Church Fathers" which resulted in so much anti-Semitism (hatred of the Jews).

At the time of the Muslim conquest the book illustrates how, despite the Diaspora, the majority of the population was indeed Jewish who referred to the Land as al-Sham (the Samaritans also being inclusive in this majority). The Jewish population itself is shown in this work, to not only be "survivors from the revolt against the Romans", but also to consist of the "direct descendants" of the generations of Jews who had lived there since the days of Joshua bin Nun.

In other words, a continual Jewish presence spanning some 2,000 years prior to the Islamic conquest.

The bookalso illustrates how the Jewish connection with the Temple Mount , Moses, David and Solomon was present in the minds of the Muslims during the conquests and that the prior injunction preventing Jewish access to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount (which had been used as a rubbish dump) was even initially revoked by the Muslims. Having said this, the book refers to some conflicting/contradictory information in relation to these issues.

The Muslim conquest of Palestine is described as opening an entirely "new page" in Palestine's history, amid a period that is shown to witness almost "unceasing warfare". The study stressing that the goal during the initial phases of the Islamic invasion of Palestine was to compel the nomadic tribes around the border to accept Islam and consolidate around Muhammad. The study citing numerous campaigns that are described as being "cruel" and accompanied by "rebuke and chastisement".

The reader is provided with references throughout. Having access to such detailed historical credentials it is difficult to weigh any Arab/Islamic/Palestinian claim to this land against that of the Jews who preceded them. The land being shown in this study to have been systematically and violently "de-populated" through Jihads, and then re-populated with Muslims/Arabs etc.. The Jewish and Christian populations described herein shown to have been subjected to the regulations imposed on the non-Muslimsthat were "vanquished" by jihad ("holy war") during which many Churches and Synagogues are cited as having been destroying by the invading tribes.

Indeed, the book provides some attention to the aforementioned "dhimmi" status afforded the non-Muslims and the adverse affects imposed upon their lives.

Amongst the outward manifestations detailed herein that are described as portraying the purported inferiority and humiliation suffered by non-Muslims, is the enforced wearing of distinguishing yellow marks by Jews and blue by Christians. The reader is provided with an ominous foretaste of what awaited the Jews in the 20th Century during the Holocaust.

The book culminates in the effects upon the population of Palestine, including the slaughter of the Jews, during the ensuing "Crusades".

Might I also respectfully recommend the following books to anyone interested in a detailed history pertaining to the region.

"Empires Of The Sands; The Struggle for Mastery in the Middle East, 1789 - 1923" by Inari & Efraim Karsh.
"From Time Immemorial; The Origins of the Arab - Jewish Conflict Over Palestine" by Joan Peters.
"A Peace To End All Peace; The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace" by David Fromkin.
"The Palestine War 1948" by Efraim Karsh.

Thank you for your time.

Stark reality of Muslim rule of Palestine, 634-1099
Middle East scholars have lauded "A History of Palestine, 634-1099" as the most comprehensive historiography of Palestine from the initial Arab Muslim conquests, until the arrival of the Crusaders in 1099. Remarkably, despite the constraints of academic annotation, and the uncertainties of translation (i.e., from Hebrew to English), Professor Gil's narrative is eminently readable for the non-professional student of history. Through the clear, dispassionate presentation of a rich profusion of data, he captures the stark, unromantic reality of Muslim ruled Palestine during this 465-year period.

Professor Gil begins with a survey of events before the Arab Muslim invasion. He also notes the singular centrality that Palestine occupied in the mind of its pre-Islamic Jewish inhabitants, who referred to the land as "al-Sham". Indeed, as Gil observes, the sizable Jewish population in Palestine (who formed a majority of its inhabitants, when grouped with the Samaritans) at the dawn of the Arab Muslim conquest were "..the direct descendants of the generations of Jews who had lived there since the days of Joshua bin Nun, in other words for some 2000 years..". The 465-year period carefully surveyed by Gil comprises the following stages: the Arab Muslim conquest and establishment, from 634 to 661; the Umayyad-Damascene rule, from 661 until 750; the Abbasid-Baghdadian rule, from 750 through 878; Turco-Egyptian rule- Tulunids and Ikshidids- from 878 until 970- "interrupted" by Abbasid-Baghdadian rule again, between 905 and 930; nearly two generations of war including numerous participants, the dominant party being the Fatimids, from 970 through 1030; just over 40-years of Fatimid-Egyptian rule, between 1030 and 1071; and a generation of Turkish rule encompassing most of Palestine, from 1071 until 1099.

Gil offers a particularly revealing assessment of dhimmitude (i.e., the regulations imposed on the non-Muslims vanquished by jihad), and its adverse impact on these conquered, indigenous peoples, in chapter 3 pages, pages 139 to 161. For example, excessive, arbitrarily imposed taxation in the first quarter of the 11th century lead to the destitution, imprisonment, torture, and death of many Jews living in Jerusalem. However, the clearest outward manifestations of this imposed inferiority and humiliation were the prohibitions regarding dhimmi dress "codes", and the demands that distinguishing signs be placed on the entrances of dhimmi houses. During the Abbasid caliphates of Harun al-Rashid (786-809) and al-Mutawwakil (847-861), Jews and Christians were requiredto wear yellow ( as patches attached to their garments, or hats). Later, to differentiate further between Christians and Jews, the Christians were required to wear blue. Finally, in 850, consistent with Koranic verses and hadith (sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad) associating them with Satan and Hell, al-Mutawwakil decreed that Jews and Christians attach wooden images of devils to the doors of their homes to distinguish them from the homes of Muslims.

Nearthe end of his extensive, scrupulously documented presentation, Gil offers this sobering assessment: "..These facts do not call for much interpretation; together they simply form a picture of almost unceasing insecurity, of endless rebellions and wars, of upheavals and instability..". ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (5)

Balanced, informative, and accessible
This is a well-written, concise, and unbiased overview of a complex situation.It's a quick enjoyable read and written in a very accessible style.I've read it at least three times.I've given it away to several friends and am always buying new copies.Why?I'm passionate about this topic and while people who agree with me do not hate this book, they are not excited about it either.That tells me it's right on the mark.

I've written few Amazon reviews, but felt compelled to recommend this excellent book.

Very informative and honest
This is one of the most honest and informative books, I have read about the subject. No biased opinions, just facts and fair introduction. Easy to read ant to undrestand also for people, who have a very little backround information.

Great Book
Harms and Ferry,

Thank you so much for puting an amazing book together and for your hard work. It was very easy to follow the timeline and understand the roots of the both civilizations, why and when the conflict started,the super powers have been involved and current policy updates.

I will suggest this book to many of my friends that have no clue what is really going on in Palestine or don't have enough time to go through pages of information and make a long research. I have much better understanding of the real reasons for the conflict.

It is really a great book!!!
Thanks again
Erinch

Excellent primer for someone new to topic
I thought this book did an excellent job of covering all the major events pertinent to this topic. It also gave a sense of the timeline. I thought the coverage was even-handed and reasonably objective. For someone looking for an introduction to this topic, or maybe just a single book that will give one an overall sense of things, this seems ideal.
I defintely recommend this book.

An Excellent,Concise Overview
Harms and Ferry are to be congratulated on writing a book that concisely introduces a very complicated and controversial topic.The authors have skillfully put together a readable and brief account of the origins of the present conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.Most readers (hopefully) will find it remarkably well-balanced and accurate, neither demonizing the Israelis nor the Muslims, but frankly stating that this is a disagreement with more modern roots in politics and a clash over land, rather than an ancient conflict of religion.Harms and Ferry have given us a good work to introduce prospective students or new initiates into a very important field of study.I highly recommend it. ... Read more

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Product Description
Throughout the world Palestinians have often been viewed through narrow prisms of "terrorists" or "victims."This comprehensive collection of oral histories brings to life generations of Palestinians, those living in the occupied territories as well as those in the far-flung exile of the Palestinians, those living in the occupied territories as well as those in the far-flung exile of the Palestinian diaspora.

The editors travelled throughout Israel and the occupied territories to find the multi-generational families living in towns, villages and refugee camps whose voices resonate in Homeland.These are Palestinians who lost their homes in 1948, who grew up as refugees in Jordan or Lebanon after the dispossessions of 1949 or 1967, women battling for their land as well as their rights, former prisoners, farmers, workers, children and great-grandparents.

Homeland poignantly links the people to the land, the attachment to which has created and sustained Palestinian national identity around the world.These are stories of loss, of exile, of remembering. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Brilliant
facts cannot be doubted, this is a real good read, gives a great overview on the whole problem of the MiddleEast.
go on, have a look!

A wonderful book
This book is very well organized and edited, and it includes a helpful index.It contains the stories of Palestinians from all walks of life.Some of them are tragic, others disturbing, and still others heartwarming.The translations are very good. It also steers clear of all the usual clichés about Israelis and Palestinians.
If you've ever wondered how Israeli policies over the last 50 years have opressed Palestinians and helped to create both their rage and despair, I recommend that you read this book. ... Read more

Product Description
In this controversial new book, a prominent Israeli historian at Haifa University revisits the formative period of the State of Israel. Decisively debunking the myth that the Palestinian population left of their own accord during the War of Independence, he offers archival evidence to demonstrate that a central plank in Israel's founding ideology was the forcible removal of the indigenous population. This book is a passionate plea to acknowledge the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948 as the root cause of the ongoing Palestine-Israel conflict. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (109)

Pure Crap!
I gave it one star because it's only usefulness as a book consists of its existence as a clinical demonstration of a perfidious liar and propagandist (Pappe') at work. As a work of history it constitutes pure crap.

An excellent account, a little difficult to follow
This account is consistent with what is ongoing.Unfortunately, it reveals an even worse history than I expected.

Before anyone knew who Hitler was, the Zionists were plotting the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.Now, they may be on the verge of precipitating a world war.

My only negative comment on the book is that the series of events was a bit difficult to follow in its extensive detail.I found it hard to picture the progression of cleansing.I'm not familiar with the geographical details of the region.

Page breakdown:
Table of Contents - 3
List of Illustrations, Maps & Tables - 1
Acknowledgements - 1 1/2
Preface - 8
Text (12 chapters) - 261
Endnotes - 20
Chronology of Key Dates - 6
Maps - 7
Tables - 1
Bibliography - 5
Index - 11

Zionists wiping out Arab history and culture like the Nazis did to Jewish society in Europe
What I find appalling after reading the book is how Israel was burying all the destroy villages by building national parks, forest estates, etc, on top of them.After the revolts at Sobibor and Treblinka, the Nazis destroy the camps and sow the ground with pine trees (Sobibor) and lupins (Treblinka).They also acted like the Nazis when the Czech village of Lidice was destroy after Reinhard Heydrich was assassinated in that they were going to make sure that the names of those Arab towns and villages were not going to be on anyone's lips no more.

In addition, the Zionists also went about reinventing and renaming the former Arab areas and rewriting the history of the areas.It gives new meaning to the phrase "History is written by the winners." Moreover, the Jews took a leaf or more out of the Nazi book when it came to destroying historical buildings, religious places of worship and creating cultural genocide of the Palestinan hertiage, and passing various laws that deprive the Palestinans of their land, money, and basic rights just like the Jews experience in 1930s Germany.

Ilan Pappe - idiot
Ilan Pappe - Idiot. The so-called "Apartheid Wall" is no more apartheid than trenches in World War I. Give up already, it's been 62 years. Ilan Pappe has admitted that he is not a historiographer and that he is more interested in advancing his agenda than the truth. There was the little matter of a civil war that could have been won by either side - why attach immorality to winning a war; is success itself then immoral? Had the Palestinian Arabs won that civil war no doubt they would have done some ethnic cleansing of their own. Both sides should have learned to live in peace but rolled the dice for war which both sides well knew risked their ethnic survival. The Arabs lost. Here's the lesson: don't wage war. Especially don't do it if you can never live with the consequences of losing. Are the Palestinian Arabs and Ilan Pappe going to cry about the loss of that civil war for another 62 years. Give up already. The Confederates lost the Civil War; you don't hear them crying about it and blowing up stuff in Minneapolis. There is plenty of bitterness following the loss of all wars, national and civil; what makes Pappe think Palestinian Arabs are so special? There is nothing just or fair once the die is cast in war and for Pappe to couch war in these terms in typical of an academician. Pappe's book is bad more because of what it leaves out than what's in it. If one is so sure the justice of one's cause then put in all context, otherwise, it leaves the impression that the author doubts the justice of his own work if all the facts are included in proportionality. As currently constituted, "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine" is just so much politically correct propaganda wrapped around the gaping missing hole of a context of people at war for their survival rather than Jews coldly and calmly moving Arabs out of areas on a map, certain of success. Stupid. That context of a civil war is so notably absent that in the glowing reviews of Pappe's book, the reviewers, summarizing the facts, make no mention of it cuz it doesn't exist in Pappe's book.

Outstanding in-depth history
This book has completely changed my views and understanding of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.It corrects a sanitized history that has been constructed by Zionists and the Israeli government, and explodes a number of myths constructed by them to justify their illegal, unethical and cruel behavior.For sceptics and for further reading, full annotation of sources is provided.

This is honest history, not the biased accounts that we are so used to.It should be required reading for high school students in the US.Please read it and send it to a friend. ... Read more

Product Description
Israeli historiography is under assault by "new historians" exposing "Zionist narrative". This text takes issue with these "revisionists", arguing that they have ignored or misinterpreted much documentation in developing their analysis of Israel's history. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Propaganda
This book is just the creation of the Israeli propaganda machine that aims at obscuring the very clear historical facts.The New Historians derive all their evidence and documentation from Israeli archives that have just recently become available.If these documents are not convincing to blind supporters of Zionism, can they at least review UN Resolution 194 about the right of millions of Palestinians to return to their villages and cities from which they were evicted in 1948?Those refugees are a living evidence to the crimes committed by Zionists, and no matter what the powerful Israeli military and propaganda machines do, they will never be able to obliterate them as they did to their villages and cities in 1948.

Morris Gives A Lame Reply to Karsh
If the above excellent reviews leave you less than entirely convinced of the worthlessness of Morris' thesis [how could they?], the final cap may be the lame reply Morris gave in the Middle East Quarterly.

[...]

Morris says that Karsh's earlier [prior to the current book] work"is a mélange of distortions, half-truths, and plain lies...."Morris fails to give a single example to support his accusation, but simply says, "It does not deserve serious attention or reply."

If all Morris can muster in his defense is an ad hominem attack on Karsh, reasonable persons can safely conclude that Morris is engaging in psychological projection.

Exposing the falsifiers
This book is an important exposure of academic mendacity and intellectual dishonesty. Karsh carefully reads the ' so- called revisionist historians' and shows how they have deliberately falsified records, used skimpy facts, made massive generalizations from a single instance, omitted and slanted evidence that contradicts their own claims.
Unfortunately this work will not undo the damage these ' historians' have done .They have succeeded in creating 'myths' about the conflict which are part of the commonplace perception of it today. These myths fit in well with the Arab propaganda effort to deligitimize Israel.
One would wish that this present volume would be much more widely disseminated than it has been. I would suggest that in this regard the first audience should be the journalists who cover the Middle East, who often carry with them some of the ' intellectual distortions' promoted by the revisionist historians. The second place should be the Middle East Studies Departments of allWestern universities.

A very revealing book
This is a classic book.I read it when it first came out.It had a big effect on me.It may have changed me as a person more than any other book I have ever read.

When I read it, I was a little surprised by the fact that Benny Morris had made an error that wound up with him saying that in 1938, David Ben-Gurion had said "We must expel Arabs and take their places."In fact, as Karsh pointed out, using the actual source would have confirmed a typo here: Ben-Gurion actually wrote, "We do not wish and do not need to expel Arabs and take their places."

Yes, that was a big mistake on Morris' part, not checking the original source.And it was a big mistake to get something like this wrong.But I still pondered about how Morris could write something so unusual without checking it.After all, wasn't he aware of Ben-Gurion's other statements in the previous and following years?Wasn't he aware of how far this would have been from the statements of most of Ben-Gurion's political allies and supporters?Wasn't Morris aware of how insane it would have seemed to most Jews to prescribe a policy of war towards the much more numerous Arabs?

What Karsh appeared to be telling me was that some extremely unlikely speculations had been presented as history.It would be as if some historian quoted John Kennedy as President claiming that the Earth was flat in an important speech, after proposing that we send a person to the Moon.

Karsh did a careful job of coming up with the actual history here.And he then demolished Avi Shlaim's claim of "collusion across the Jordan."Here again, Karsh showed a situation in which a supposedly serious historian made a highly dubious claim and supported it with a single piece of highly disputable evidence.And the story continues in the next chapter when we see Shlaim and Ilan Pappe's claims about Britain going along with this non-existent collusion, and saying that Bevin warned the Jordanians not to invade territory belonging to the Jews.Here was another surprise: I had read Glubb's original claim that Bevin had said not to invade those areas.Glubb said that Bevin said it twice! And it seemed possible to me that Bevin could have said such a thing.But was Glubb telling the truth?Karsh, after carefully examining several records of what happened at that meeting, shows that Glubb was basically not telling the truth here.

Another good job of investigation!

But the biggest shock was saved for last.I had not realized that Shlaim had said "Far from being 'the great ogre who unleashed Arab armies to strangle the Jewish state at birth,' Bevin 'emerges from the documents as the guardian angel of the infant state.'"

I had read quite a bit about Bevin, and I immediately recognized Shlaim's claim as completely and transparently false.It was like saying that the United States had fought in World War 2, but not telling the truth about which side we fought on: Germany's or the Soviet Union's.

Had Shlaim really said something this bizarre?He had.And that was a huge revelation for me.That we were not talking about a few mistakes by some "new historians."Nor even some very biased reading of a few documents to support some dubious ideas.

As Karsh had said in his title, this was indeed "fabricating Israeli history."We were discussing outright violations of acceptable academic behavior.

This book made me realize just how much some academics have opposed (not just abandoned) truth.And I think this issue is far bigger than just the Arab-Israeli conflict.At some point, for human society to function, there must be some respect for truth by our educational institutions.In my opinion, that is what this book is all about.

After reading this book, I no longer assumed that academic people would necessarily strive for truth.And recently, I have read and reviewed quite a few books about the Arab-Israeli conflict.I have given positive reviews to most of those which made serious attempts to tell the truth.And I've given negative ones to books which simply attempted to mislead their readers.I hope that in so doing, I am contributing, in my own small way, to improving human society.

This is how history should be written.
Rely on primary sources.
Be intellectually honest.
Let evidence form the conclusions.

Any first-year history major should have that drilled into their heads.It's also a basic set of tenets for journalists, academics, and anyone else seeking truth among facts and fiction.

What I gain from Karsh's book is an objective perspective of the origin of the modern conflict in Israel.I am treated to primary sources, secondary accounts, and conclusions drawn directly from the evidence, and not wild imagination or heresay.The way it hangs together, and the way it is written, almost compels you to consider going through the bibliography to learn more.Presented in the context of an academic response to sloppy historiography, it is a scathing rebuttal that cannot be ignored.

Presented as an introduction to the conflict, it doesn't stand alone.More than basic familiarity with the facts of Israel's modern (re)birth as a nation is needed to understand a majority of the references.However, once a basic understanding is in place, this book should serve as the standard by which other accounts or works are judged.

Fred ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (21)

Op Ed
I have not finished the book yet. Yet, I felt encouraged to answer Mr ML/NJ and throw some comments on his review. I would like to start by saying that finally we see a book that depcits the truth. A book that does not call the owners of the lands terorrists. A book that understands how it might feel to live in a peice of land for 1,400 years, then by a Belford declaration, you are expelled. We have always read many books that were completely biased towards the Israeli side. There has always been the double standard, not only in politics, but even in book pages and what is supposed to be free speach. Now, I am happy to see that the sitiuation is changing. I would really recommend the book for whoever wants to hear the OTHER side of the story.

Smith Is Currently My History Professor
I assure you that this book is nowhere near as dry as Smith's lectures, and I also assure you that he is extremely (almost insanely) knowledgable on this topic.His lectures are unbiased and I find it hilarious that a lot of reviewers said that this book was biased against Israel.After reading this textbook, I think that only biased people would say that this book is biased (against their own side, of course) because Smith isn't afraid to point the finger at all sides.He clearly shows that the road to peace (or the lack thereof) is a two-way street.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to get into the nitty gritty of this topic (details are PLENTY in this text), as long as you're willing to consider that America (as well as others) hasn't exactly been an angel in the past.

Good with excellent primary sources
The Arab-Israeli conflict is one that touches on so many painful emotions and biases that no book will be deemed fair or unbiased by all concerned.However, Smith's book does a very good job of attempting to be as close to unbiased as possible.It is often used as a textbook in upper-level modern Middle East history courses for just that reason.It is good choice for someone who is new to the subject (other than the inescapable news coverage) and really wants to understand some of the issues invovled throughout the history of the conflict.

One of the strongest things about Smith's book is the inclusion of a number of primary sources.Other than disputing the translations, no one can deny that primary sources are as close to an honest look at history as we can get.Documents are included from many sides of the issues involved and no side comes out either squeekly clean nor as pure evil.

Another strength I found, to differ with another reviewers opinion, is that the book starts quite far back in the history of the conflict.As the mythologizing of the roots of Israel as a nation has been worked into the official stance of all sides, each for their own purposes, understanding what happened at the beginning is of utmost importance if you really want to grasp the subject.This is a good book that does it's best with a difficult subject and goes into some depth in addition to excellent primary source material.

Read with care and caution
Like some other reviewers, I too bought this book for a college course and I too find it overly biased toward the Arab point of view.The author has the right to draw his own conclusions, but like any non-fiction book, readers must use their own judgement to evaluate those conclusions carefully.I don't know if there is an author without bias on this topic due to its sensitivity.

It is also horribly dry in my opinion.I know it's supposed to be, but certain sections just drag on and on, it seems, uneccessarily.

Read critically, not literally.If you have a choice (i.e. don't have to buy this particular book for a course or something) choose a more balanced author, if you can find one.

A Good Historical Overview But More Recent Events are Biased
The book is a fairly concise and accurate overview of the Arab-Israeli conflict. It covers ancient Jewish history, the beginnings of Zionism, the emergence of Israel, the Arab Wars and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Most of the coverage is well researched and documented.

The closing chapters of the book are undoubtedly biased towards the Palestinian account. One example is the coverage of the Barak-Arafat-Clinton negotiations in 2000. Smith portrays Barak as a man whose intentions were not to conduct honest negotiations but rather "carefully calculated, intended to appear more amenable to the United States." Smith writes that "there was never an Israeli offer." Further, Smith asserts that Barak was manipulating the media in order to force them to present a positive account of Israeli negotiations. Arafat's refusal to make any counter offer, or contribute to the negotiations -- as asserted by President Clinton and the U.S. chief negotiater -- are not mentioned. Smith also does not fault Palestinian terrorism -- the systematic, often daily suicide bombings experienced by Israel -- for turning Israeli public opinion against further peace talks. According to Smith, the blame lies solely on Sharon and his visit to the Temple Mount and Palestinian frustration.

Smith's discussion of the Intifada speaks in terms of Israeli attacks and Palestinian "armed response." In fact, Israel had been initially very reserved in its replies to suicide bombings. Israeli interests do not lie in a military occupation of the Palestinian territories, unless necessary to alleviate security risk.

Admittedly, I have an opinion about whose fault the failure of the Camp David II was. It is acceptable for the author to take an opposite view. However, in a book that claims to be a non-biased textbook for college use, the topic should be presented with acknowledgement of differing opinions. Especially, when the book presents an account that is largely a contrast to the established narrative (a narrative that there is no reason to believe is inaccurate).

My rating is still positive because the book is a valuable resource in its coverage of earlier time periods. However, this book should be used with other materials for balance. ... Read more

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Ilan Pappe's book is the story of Palestine, a land inhabited by two peoples, and two national identities. It begins with the Ottomans in the early 1800s, the reign of Muhammad Ali, and traces a path through the arrival of the early Zionists at the end of that century, through the British mandate at the beginning of the twentieth century, the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, and the subsequent wars and conflicts which culminated in the intifadas of 1987 and 2000. While these events provide the background to the narrative and explain the construction of Zionist and Palestinian nationalism, at center stage are those who lived through these times, men and women, children, peasants, workers, town-dwellers, Jews and Arabs.It is a story of coexistence and cooperation, as well as oppression, occupation, and exile.Ilan Pappe is well known as a revisionist historian of Palestine and a political commentator on the Israel-Palestine conflict. His book is a unique contribution to the history of this troubled land which all those concerned with developments is the Middle East will be compelled to read.Ilan Pappe teaches politics at Haifa University in Israel. He has written extensively on the politics of the Middle East, and is well known for his revisionist interpretation of Israel's past and as a critic of Israel's policies towards the Palestinians. His books include The Making of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1947-1951 (Taurlls, 1992) and The Israeli-Palestine Question (Routledge, 1999). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

need to be told
if you do want in depth about the land of palestine... here you have one on your shelf.

Cambridge University Press' Shameful Pandering to Terrorists
Pappé is the odd man out among the so-called New Historians. Unlike his colleagues, who pretend to base their anti-Israel writings on recently declassified documents from the British Mandate period and the first years of Israeli independence, Pappé is an unabashed "relativist" for whom historical research is a backward-looking projection of political attitudes and agendas regardless of actual facts. Aside from his doctoral dissertation, subsequently published as Britain and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1948-51,[1] Pappé's books are not based on archival documentation, preferring secondary (and deeply prejudiced) sources that aim at vindicating the Palestinian "narrative" of the conflict. He himself explains this in the introduction to A History of Modern Palestine:

My bias is apparent despite the desire of my peers that I stick to facts and the "truth" when reconstructing past realities. I view any such construction as vain and presumptuous. This book is written by one who admits compassion for the colonized not the colonizer; who sympathizes with the occupied not the occupiers.

This unabashed acknowledgment of personal bias and open political partisanship comes from a diehard ideologue who views Zionist and Israeli history as "more than a century of colonization, occupation, and dispossession of Palestinians." The equation of Zionism with colonialism, the cornerstone of Pappé's historical narrative, has been a staple of Arab propaganda since the early 1920s. Almost as predictable is the portrayal of Arabs and Palestinians as the hapless victims of this alleged foreign invasion.

Publication of A History of Modern Palestine by a prestigious academic press is a sad testament to the pervasive politicization of Middle Eastern studies where the dividing line between academic scholarship and unadulterated propaganda has been blurred, if not erased.

Even by the skewed standards of this field of studies, Pappé's latest book ranks in a class of its own. Not only does it add no new facts or ideas to the anti-Israel literature, but the sloppiness of its research astounds. It contains countless factual errors and inaccuracies. Yasir Arafat's birthplace is Cairo and not Jerusalem. The U.N. Special Commission on Palestine (UNSCOP) presented its report on August 31, 1947, not on November 29. Deir Yasin is a village near Jerusalem, and not in Haifa. Lawrence of Arabia had nothing to do with the Anglo-Hashemite correspondence that led to the "Great Arab Revolt" of World War I. Further, this correspondence was initiated by the Hashemites not by the British. Pappé even misspells the official English transliteration of President Weizmann's first name (Chaim, not Haim).

More serious is the book's consistent resort to factual misrepresentation, distortion, and outright falsehood. Readers are told of events that never happened, such as the nonexistent May 1948 Tantura "massacre" or the expulsion of Arabs within twelve days of the partition resolution. They learn of political decisions that were never made, such as the Anglo-French 1912 plan for the occupation of Palestine or the contriving of "a master plan to rid the future Jewish state of as many Palestinians as possible." And they are misinformed about military and political developments, such as the rationale for the Balfour declaration:

Without Russia, there was very little hope of successfully surrounding Germany with a ring of enemy states, a strategy it was hoped would cause Germany to surrender. The British government expected that Russian Jews would become the agents of pro-British propaganda that would persuade the tsarist government to come out clearly in support of the Allies' effort to subjugate Germany.

But Russia was a member of the Triple Entente coalition with Britain and France from the time of the outbreak of hostilities in 1914 and so needed no encouragement to join the war three years later, least of all by its despised and persecuted Jewish minority. In fact, it was hoped that the Zionist movement, by virtue of its perceived connections to the Bolshevik movement, would help keep communist Russia in the war.

Pappé claims that Theodor Herzl "attempted to enlist British help in installing a temporary Jewish state (i.e., one that would eventually be moved to Palestine) in British Uganda, an offer which was seriously considered by some in Whitehall," only to have his plan foiled by Weizmann. In fact, it was British Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain, not Herzl, who conceived of the East Africa idea. Nor was the "Uganda plan" foiled by Herzl's opponents, least of all Weizmann. Herzl narrowly got the plan passed by his last Zionist Congress in 1903, overriding the opposition of such Zionist leaders as Menahem Ussishkin and Yehiel Chlenov; it was only after Herzl's death in July 1904 that the idea was unceremoniously buried.

A final example of Pappé's distortion concerns the tidal wave of Arab violence that immediately followed the U.N. partition vote in November 1947. On the day after the vote, a spate of Arab attacks left seven Jews dead and scores more wounded. Shooting, stoning, and rioting continued apace in the following days. The consulates of Poland and Sweden, both of whose governments had voted for partition, were attacked. Bombs were thrown into cafes, Molotov cocktails were hurled at shops, a synagogue was set on fire. On December 3, at the instigation of the Palestinian leadership, a large mob ransacked the new Jewish commercial center in Jerusalem, looting and burning shops and stabbing and stoning whomever they happened upon. The next day, some 120-150 armed Arabs attacked Kibbutz Efal, on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, in the first large-scale attempt to storm a Jewish village.

Ignoring this heavily documented historical record, Pappé whitewashes this violence as intra-communal clashes "activated by hotheaded youth on both sides." He even makes the mind-boggling claim that this violence had been triggered by the Haganah. Like so much else in A History of Modern Palestine, this is a falsehood.

Does Pappé count on the ignorance of the general reader to accept it? Does he expect his peers to give him a pass? That Cambridge University Press purveys this disgraceful work suggests that they just might. It also symbolizes the crisis in Middle East studies.

Efraim Karsh is director of the Mediterranean Studies Programme at King's College, University of London, and editor of the quarterly journal Israel Affairs. He is the author of Arafat's War: the Man and His Battle for Israeli Conquest (Grove Press, 2003).

[1] New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1988.

Ilan Pappe rewrites History to fit his own agenda
Ilan Pappe, has taken the history of israel and changed it to fit his revisionist dialogue and prpomte an anti Israel agenda. He uses information that cannot be documented, has decided on a one state solution and essentially calls for the elimination of the state of Israel, while he lives on a goverment salary, and is protected by the very soliders that he demonizes. He should be filed un "fiction" in the libraries.

Revisionist history at its worst
This is a work that pretends at objectivity, but is written with a clear agenda in mind. Pappe totally identifies with the PalestianArab cause, and places the major onus for the conflict on the Jews of Israel. Thus he slants the major historical and political realities, in which the Jews have five times agreed to a peace plan based on partition while the Arabs have insistently refused to accept the Jews right to a state of their own. Pappe underplays the persistent and systematic Arab violence and terror which have been at the heart of the conflict from its beginning. He mistells the story of the 1947-1948 war minimizing the Arab agression, the calls of the leaders of Arab states for Palestinians to temporarily abandon their homes , so that invading Arab armies would be able to kill Jews more freely. He underplays the countless initiatives made by Israelis from all walks of life to live in peaceful relations with the Arabs. And does not really put the conflict into thecontext of the pan- Arabic, Islamic fundamentalist, and Arab nationalist processes which perpetuate the conflict even today.
This is Revisionist History at its worst, a distorting and ignoring of the factual and objective reality in order to promote a ' cause' . That cause is disguised and misrepresented in the work.
For Pappe as anyone who reads carefully will seeis calling for a Jewish state which ceases to be Jewish in any meaningful way, and eventually becomes an Arab dominated one , in which its Arab minority will eventually become its majority. Pappe's analysis is one which aims to help bring about the destruction of Israel.
Is it surprising then that most Israelis consider him to be both a hypocrite and a traitor?

Historical fiction
This simply isn't history.In real life, people do things for reasons.Historians explain what happened and (to some extent) why.That is how they are able to infer as yet unknown details and even predict future attitudes and acts.Pappe gets plenty of facts wrong, but his biggest failing is to ascribe incorrect or even impossible motives to many of the people of the region.

This book is propaganda masquerading as history. ... Read more

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This book utilizes the official statistics of the Ottoman government and British mandate to establish what the actual facts about the Palestinian population were. It presents a detailed statistical picture of the inhabitants of Palestine in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including fertility and mortality rates, and Jewish and Arab immigration figures. The Population of Palestine offers invaluable information and analysis, much of which is unavailable elsewhere, clarifying crucial questions about the history of Palestine prior to the creation of Israel. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Unbiased and academic, finally
This controversial subject has previously been treated with highly charged, political biases.The most obvious being Joan Peters' "From Time Immemorial" which is extremist propaganda.

McCarthy's book is the first truly un-biased, academic work I've seen on historical population surveys in this region and it is performed by a real scholar on this subject that is not an Arab, not Jewish, or someone with an agenda.It should be considered essential reading on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. ... Read more

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Articles on the religious, political, and social lives of the Jews, Christians, and pagans living in Palestine during the early centuries of the first millennium. ... Read more

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Every school and public library should update its resources on the history of Israel with this engagingly written and succinct narrative history from biblical times through 1997. This readable history, based on the most recent scholarship, provides a chronological narrative that examines the political, religious, and social components of Israel's turbulent history. A thorough examination of the events from the Six Day War of 1967 through the struggle for peace in 1997 is of special interest. The work provides a timeline of events in the history of Israel, biographical sketches of key figures in Israeli history, and an annotated bibliography of books of interest to students and general readers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Fast , but Detailed
The book begins with a very useful timeline of significant events, one the reader frequently refers to during the course of reading.The timeline is followed by a prologue of encyclopedic trivia such as geography, demographics, resources, and social-political data.Next is a bare-bones survey of the period 1000 B.C.E. to the early twentieth century C.E.The reader is quickly introduced to the Diaspora, the occupations of Palestine (Babylonian, Greek, Roman, Arab Moslem, Turkish Moslem, British) the origins of Sephardic (Spanish) and Azhkenazic (Germanic) Jews, the Old and New Yishuv (Palestine Jewish community), the new political Zionism (which the author claims sprouted from the Dreyfus Trial) and first major Jewish migrations (Aliyoth).During the early twentieth century, World War I and the overthrow of the czar shape events in Palestine, and Britain's involvement in the fate of Palestine becomes extensive.All of this complex history is summarily covered in the first one third of the book, in preparation for moving on to much more detailed explorations in chapters dedicated to the Holocaust, the birth of the Israeli State (which came into being instantly at war with Egypt, Trans-Jordan, Syria, and Iraq), the growth years up to 1966, the Six-Day War, the Yom-Kippur War and post-war period, the Likud (right wing) accession to power and the Egyptian/Israeli (Camp David) peace accord, the "National Unity" party years of uncertainty 1983-1992, and finally, the Oslo peace process and subsequent election of Benyamin Netanyahu in 1996.
This book, while seemingly short at 198 pages, is organized much like an academic text, and demands careful reading and considerable time for thorough review and assimilation.With numerous subtitles in each chapter, some of which head only brief paragraphs, the book seemed fragmented at times.But the reviewer is not insinuating alternatives for better format or organization.There are so many important details to consider, it was perhaps best that discretely significant events were clearly identified.
After a whirlwind survey of ancient Palestine, the author's familiarity and comfort with nineteenth century history is reflected in a relatively lengthier exposition of that period.As events resulting from the new Zionist movement began to spiral ever faster in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the reader senses the author slowing down even further to present necessarily greater detail.It seemed to the layman reviewer that no significant event has been omitted from this history.It is all here, including, in addition to the chapters noted above, the kibbutz movement, the Balfour Declaration, the British Mandate and White Paper, radical Zionist terrorism, Ben-Gurion's 1948 proclamation of Israeli independence, the roots and history of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the first Israeli Sinai occupation, Israeli-Jordanian co-operation, Munich, Entebbe, the Achille Lauro, the Lebanese refugee camp massacre, the Intifada, and the Rabin assassination.The volume concludes with a section of "Notable People in the History of Israel."
While history speaks for itself, the author's interpretations clearly exhibit a bias one might expect from a person of his religious background (Jewish).It is significant that the extensive bibliography, while well done with descriptive annotation, contains not even a single reference to an identifiably Arabic source.Also, the list of notable persons does not include any of those who might be classified as �anti-Israeli.�
Ultimately, the author succeeds in providing the reader with a coherent description of pertinent events leading up to the present day situation in Israel/Palestine.The logarithmic increase in detail level provides enough understanding of ancient Palestine to prepare the reader for the ever-quickening cavalcade of events to occur in the twentieth century.Finally, it is worth noting that the author simply lays out the history without including any personal opinion as to possible solutions to the ongoing (Arab/Israeli) Palestine conflict.
This book is remarkably detailed, given its length.Perhaps a somewhat closer examination of ancient Palestine may have been helpful, but certainly not mandatory.It is a concise history that provides reasonable understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian-Arab dispute, so long as the reader is alert to separate the author's recognizable shadings.The entire history of Palestine is intricately woven within the larger study of world civilization, not the least of which occurred during the early twentieth century and the series of events leading up to the birth of the State of Israel.This work will benefit anyone who would like to gain a basic understanding of both the underlying causes of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the reasons why solutions are so frustratingly illusive.

"Hubris"
I have read only a portion of "The History of Israel," not for lack of interest but for lack of time.I cannot judge the con-tents as to their accuracy.But I will say that I am put off by the title. Every historian knows that there is no such thing as "The History," there is only "A History," reflecting the author's point of view. The "historian" that wrote this book is guilty of hubris. Nothing more needs be said.

short but well-done
THE GOOD: well written, primarily focused on 1800's to the present, short enough to prevent brain-freeze, but in depth enough to satisfy.

THE BAD: there was no mention of the 1972 Munich Olypics terrorist massacre.

THE UGLY: Blumberg gives not only numerous cases of Arab terroristr activity, but Jewish violence against Arabs and the British, as well, which of course opened up the floodgates of Brit retaliation, with great amounts of flogging and hanging. I'm glad to see the human race is so well on the way to getting along with one another... ... Read more

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In the encounter with Hellenism which confronted the Jews of Palestine in the form of Greek, Roman and finally Christian supremacy, a Judaism developed which had far outgrown its biblical origins and which was to influence the history of Europe from the Middle Ages to the present day.

The Jews in the Greco-Roman World examines the political history of the Jewish people in Palestine in terms of the interaction between political activity and social, economic and religious circumstances. Of particular concern is the investigation of social and economic conditions in the history of Palestinian Judaism.The Jews of antiquity are presented as both the subject and the object of history as they attempt to achieve their political and social goals in a variety of changing circumstances.

The period chosen for this study is that represented by the global domination of Hellenism, from the conquest of Palestine by Alexander the Great in the second half of the fourth century BCE until the seizure of the land by the Arabs in the seventh century CE.Great care has been taken to make the reader aware of the relationship between the author's account and the original source. Likewise, reference has been made to the relevant sources as often as possible, so that the reader can look these up and check the information provided against the source material.
... Read more

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"A path-breaking book. He presents an extraordinarily meticulous review of enormous amounts of previously unavailable data on property losses by Palestinian Arabs (and by Jews). The volume will finally make possible serious discussion over ways to alleviate the personal and political consequences of 55 years of what can only be described as continuing theft. This volume will surely take its place alongside other great books about Arab-Israeli relations--books by Benny Morris, Gershon Shafir, Baruch Kimmerling, Yael Zerubavel, Beshara Doumani, and others whose work has replaced ignorance with information and propaganda with analysis." -- Ian S. Lustick, author ofUnsettled States, Disputed Lands

Customer Reviews (4)

This truth will help set all of us free
Profound mind-opening evidence, that proves the truth about the evil deceit that has sought to justify a horrible crime against many thousands of innocent men, women and children, who were and are truly heirs to the blessing that God promised to the descendants of Abram. Profound, profound!

Superb analysis of a crucial issue in the Palestine conflict
This book came about as a result ofa project to commit the records of the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestinians to CD format. Author Michael Fishbachwas then given access to the records and has proceeded to navigate the vagaries of the issue of Palestinian refugee property--a sometimes obscure but always central issue of the Arab dispute with Israel.Carefully researched, meticulously documented, and well written, this book should be the foundation for many future studies of the issue.

The author remains coolly analytical and non-partisan in his approach, and this should be one of the abiding strengths of the book.Most treatments of the Arab-Israeli conflict are accused by one side or the other as being so completely biased as to be completely unreliable. Of course, some of them are, but the opposing camps of the issue tend to view any attempt at balance as favouring the other side. Fishbach's book is nothing if not balanced, and it would be very difficult to level the charge of bias against him (although I am sure it will be attempted).His is purely and simply a sober recitation of the facts of the case, as complicated as they are. This is to my reading a far more effective technique of assigning credit and laying blame than any polemic, regardless of how elegant the rhetoric .

What emerges from the conflicting figures (all provided in tables and summarized in the appendix) and diplomatic fencing (summarized neatly and matter-of-factly as the narrative unfolds) attendant upon the issue throughout its fifty-five year history is also a record of another sort: that of Israeli duplicity and obstructionism. Granted, both sides have kicked these properties around as a political football until Hell won't have them. And the author reveals all of the manoeuvering on either side. Nevertheless, it is the manipulative nature of the Israeli approach that stands out.

In the hands of a less skillful writer, this could turn into a slog through a trackless swamp, pursued only through a sense of duty.Fortunately, Fishbach is as adept at historiography as he is at compiling his evidence, and the book reads effortlessly despite its being long and dense with facts and figures.

Indipensable Road Map
If the Bush Administration is seeking a real road map to peace, this should be its basis. The Palestinian/Israeli conflict is and has always been about land. Dr. Fischbach has done the world a favor by providing us the detail we need about what land was taken, and how sane and factual negotiations about its particulars provide us with a pathway out of the death and destruction of the past 50 years. Please read this book and hope our leaders do as well.

crucial book
This book studies the expropriation of the property of the Palestine refugees and the compensation issues anddiplomatic activity that followed. Especially interesting (to me) is the discussion of the estimates of the dollar value of these losses. It is based primarily on the records of the UN Conciliation Commission on Palestine. It should be of the highest interest to anyone with an interest in the Israel Palestine problem and how it might be resolved.I must confess that I have only started reading this book and I am not a scholar- I am a lawyer- but Ihighly reccomend this book. ... Read more