Book Cover
E-book
Author Karsh, Efraim, author

Title Palestine betrayed / Efraim Karsh
Published New Haven : Yale University Press, ©2010

Copies

Description 1 online resource (ix, 342 pages) : maps
Contents Jews and Arabs in the Holy Land -- Pan-Arab ambitions -- "The most important Arab quisling" -- The road to partition -- Kingdoms are established over dead bodies and skulls -- Fleeing Haifa -- Why don't you stay and fight? -- Jerusalem embattled -- All fall down -- The scramble for Palestine -- Shattered dreams -- A self-inflicted catastrophe -- Epilogue
Summary The 1947 UN resolution to partition Palestine irrevocably changed the political landscape of the Middle East, giving rise to six full-fledged wars between Arabs and Jews, countless armed clashes, blockades, and terrorism, as well as a profound shattering of Palestinian Arab society. Its origins, and that of the wider Arab-Israeli conflict, are deeplyrooted in Jewish-Arab confrontation and appropriation in Palestine. But the isolated occasions of violence during the British Mandate era (1920-48) suggest that the majority of Palestinian Arabs yearned to live and thrive under peaceful coexistence with the evolving Jewish national enterprise. So what was the real cause of the breakdown in relations between the two communities?In this brave and groundbreaking book, Efraim Karshtells the story from both the Arab and Jewish perspectives. Heargues that from the early 1920s onward, a corrupt and extremist leadership worked toward eliminating the Jewish national revival and protecting its own interests. Karsh has mined many of the Western, Soviet, UN, and Israeli documents declassified over the past decade, as well as unfamiliar Arab sources, to reveal what happened behind the scenes on both Palestinian and Jewish sides. It is an arresting story of delicate political and diplomatic maneuvering by leading figures--Ben Gurion, Hajj Amin Husseini, Abdel Rahman Azzam, King Abdullah, Bevin, and Truman --over the years leading up to partition, through the slide to war and its enduring consequences. Palestine Betrayed is vital reading for understanding the origin of disputes that remain crucial today
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 274-334) and index
Notes English
Subject HISTORY -- Middle East -- Israel.
Regions & Countries - Asia & the Middle East.
History & Archaeology.
Middle East.
SUBJECT Palestine -- History -- Partition, 1947. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85097178
Subject Middle East -- Palestine
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2009040202
ISBN 9780300169454
0300169450