Palestine BetrayedThe 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. |
Contents
The Most Important Arab Quisling | |
The Road to Partition | |
Kingdoms are Established over Dead Bodies and Skulls | |
Fleeing Haifa | |
7Why Dont You Stay and Fight? | |
Jerusalem Embattled | |
All Fall Down | |
The Scramble for Palestine | |
Shattered Dreams | |
A Selfinflicted Catastrophe | |
Epilogue | |
Dramatis Personae | |
Abbreviations | |
89 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Abdullah Amman Annexes April Arab League Arab Legion Arab Villages Arab world Arab-Jewish attack Aviv Azzam Beirut Beit Ben-Gurion Bevin Cairo city’s commander Committee Committee’s country’s Cunningham Papers Damascus David Ben-Gurion Deir Yasin diary Egypt Egyptian Evacuation Faisal fighters fighting forces Foreign Office Fortnightly Intelligence Newsletter Gaza Hagana Haifa Hajj Hajj Amin Hashmonai Hativat Hiram to Tene HQ British Troops Husseini ibid IDFA Iraqi Israel Israeli issued by HQ Jaffa Jerusalem Jews July June League’s Logbook London mandate Meeting Middle East military Mufti Muhammad Muslim neighboring Operation Palestine Post Palestine’s Palestinian Arabs pan-Arab partition resolution peace Peel Commission political population prime minister Protocol Qatamon Qawuqji refugees Report residents Safad Sasson Secretary Sept Sheik Shertok Summary Syrian Tel Aviv Tene territory Tiroshi Transjordan Troops in Palestine United Nations Weizmann Yavne Yishuv Yoman Hamilhama Zionist