Palestine Betrayed [Hardcover]

Efraim Karsh writes a learned account of the disputes in the Middle East, from the mid 19th Century till the Arab-Israel 1967 war and after, with a detailed blow by blow account of the 1947 Partition and the 1948 Arab-Israel war and its consquences.

Under Turkish rule until the Turks' defeat in the first world war, Palestine was inhabited by Arabs - Muslim, Christians, Druze - and by a significant minority of Jews, in largely separate but interacting communities. Under the British mandate that followed, intergroup rivalry and Arab nationalism grew, and the increasing Jewish immigration from post-Holocaust Europe alarmed the Arabs. Anti-Jewish sentiment was encouraged by neighboring Arab governments and inter-communal violence grew to the point at which Britain decided to withdraw from Palestine and the United Nations determined that Palestine should be partitioned into two parts - one Arab and one Jewish.

Karsh,using newly released documents from British, Israeli and Arab sources, gives a detailed and fascinating account of the period following the proposed partition. The Arabs, encouraged and supported by neighbouring states that - as Karsh reveals - had their own cynical agendas, promptly attacked the Jews and were thrown back. Israel was formed, Transjordan took over the West Bank to become Jordan and Palestinian Arabs missed their opportunity for statehood.

The tragedy of inter-Arab and Arab-Jewish relations in that period still impacts relations today. Karsh lets the documents speak for themselves. They illuminate a period of Middle East history and are an antidote to all the disengenous spin to which it has been and is still subject.

Highly recommended, a serious read.

Replete with references the Professor & Head of the Middle East and Mediterranean Studies Programme at Kings College, London has provided an excellent, detailed, objective analysis of both the origins as well as the history surrounding the Arab-Israeli conflict.

In my own opinion this authoritative, timely and well written study is destined to become a classic in relation to this contentious subject. Those who have already embraced the revisionist history of the 'new historians' will probably want to give it a miss as the detail and depth of this work tends to blow their case completely out of the water.

Citing many documents which have been declassified over the past decade, both the Arab and Jewish perspectives of this conflict are addressed from the very start. The political/diplomatic manoeuvering of many prominent individuals on both sides and in the international arena are all given due reference.

Recent declassification of millions of documents from the era surrounding the British Mandate are shown to have been ignored or distorted by the 'new historians' in order to paint a picture that the author claims 'is completely at odds with the anti Israel caricature that is so often the order of the day'.

This compelling investigation makes it clear to the reader that Israel is being robbed of its political, historic and geographic legitimacy, whilst being made to appear to rob the Palestinians of the nation it never had.

At the outset the author draws attention to the differing positions of the then Jewish and Arab leadership leading up to the 1947 UN resolution calling for the partition of 'Palestine' into two independent states - Arab and Jewish - plus the internationalisation of Jerusalem.

From the easily readable text the reader can assess how the Jewish leadership openly accepted the detailed UN plans for parition while the Arab side utterly rejected any such plan and showed that compliance with any UN resolution was of no consequence as they declared all out war with the declared intention of eradicating the reborn Jewish state. Full quotes and detailed references from both sides are provided for the reader's attention.

The book reveals in no uncertain terms that if the Palestinian Arabs and the neighbouring Arab states had accepted the UN resolution there would have been no war and no dislocation of a single Arab refugee. The simple reason being that the Zionist movement was amenable to the co-existence with the Palestinian Arabs and a 2 state solution even at that time. The Arab world choosing to instead wage a war of annihilation.

Citing how such reality was to become erased form public memory by decades of relentless pro-Arab propaganda, the writer clarifies that it is to reclaim this and other historical truths that this book has been written.

A whole plethora of issues are addressed including those of a Zionist and Pan Arab perspective covering many decades prior to, and culminating in, the above. The role of the British and the Mandate is studied in some detail revealing much of the alleged British appeasement of the Arab world and it's 'White Paper' restricting Jewish immigration to Palestine while Jews were fleeing the persecution and slaughter within Europe during the rule of Hitler. References revealing how, while Jews were severely restricted and hampering from entering their ancient homeland, no such restrictions were placed upon Arabs entering/settling in 'Palestine' from their neighbouring Arab states.

Having studied the Balfour Declaration one aspect of alleged British appeasement of the Arab world that also receives attention is the British severing of a vast percentage of 'Palestine' east of the Jordan River from the prospective Jewish homeland to create the new Arab nation of Transjordan under the newly appointed Arab leadership of Emir Abdullah ibn Hussein.

Even what remained of 'Palestine' being targeted for division with the 'Palestinian' Arabs. Quotes and references showing that pan-Arabism viewed the 'Palestinians' not as a distinct people deserving statehood but as 'an integral part of a single Arab nation' which was bound by the common ties of language and religion etc.. The Jewish homeland eventually constituing less than 11 per cent of what was originally hoped for. The study's contents reiterating that even this was too much for the Arab world which rejected 'parition' and declared war to obtain it all.

Indeed from the historic details provided the reader is left with the unassailable deduction that the Arab grievance is not with the borders of Israel but with its very existence. Referring to the 'peace process' of the present day the book claims that, despite their vastly different personalities and political modus operandi, Yasser Arafat and his successor Mahmoud Abbas are "warp and woof of the same fabric". Both being shown from the text to be PLO veterans who have never "eschewed their commitment to Israel's destruction".

While many believe that the reason for the continuous state of war between Israel and the Arabs is because Israel is allegedly 'occupying Arab land' the study shows how through endless repetition, the engraving upon people's minds of this line of political propaganda has deceived the populace from the fundamental truths behind this conflict. It clearly being shown that the Arabs were making war against Israel even when the Arabs held the land and that is how they came to lose it in the first place.

Individual readers must make up their own minds upon the many aspects of this investigation, some aspects of which may be seen as controversial by some. However, I have no hesitation to recommending this work to anyone remotely interested in the Middle East conflicts.

This is an excellent book. It is academic, including copious footnotes and a bibliography. It goes into detail of researched fact and wastes no time in grand gesture statements. It is not a light overview but is strong on evidence.