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1948:

A History of the First Arab-Israeli War
Front Cover
22 Reviews
Yale University Press, Oct 1, 2008 - History - 544 pages
This history of the foundational war in the Arab-Israeli conflict is groundbreaking, objective, and deeply revisionist. A riveting account of the military engagements, it also focuses on the war's political dimensions. Benny Morris probes the motives and aims of the protagonists on the basis of newly opened Israeli and Western documentation. The Arab sidewhere the archives are still closedis illuminated with the help of intelligence and diplomatic materials. Morris stresses the jihadi character of the two-stage Arab assault on the Jewish community in Palestine. Throughout, he examines the dialectic between the war's military and political developments and highlights the military impetus in the creation of the refugee problem, which was a by-product of the disintegration of Palestinian Arab society. The book thoroughly investigates the role of the Great PowersBritain, the United States, and the Soviet Unionin shaping the conflict and its tentative termination in 1949. Morris looks both at high politics and general staff decision-making processes and at the nitty-gritty of combat in the successive battles that resulted in the emergence of the State of Israel and the humiliation of the Arab world, a humiliation that underlies the continued Arab antagonism toward Israel.

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Review: 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War

User Review  - Haotian Xu - Goodreads

You can't miss this book if you are looking to understand the "New" Israeli historians writing on Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Benny Morris is probably the most influential writer in the past few ... Read full review

Review: 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War

User Review  - Dowl Phin - Goodreads

I first read The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappe, one of the "Israeli New Historians" who looked at the archived materials from Cabinet meetings, politician diaries, Israel Defence Force ... Read full review

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About the author (2008)

Benny Morris is professor of history in the Middle East Studies Department of Ben-Gurion University, Israel. He is the leading figure among Israel's "New Historians," who over the past two decades have reshaped our understanding of the Israeli-Arab conflict. His books include "Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-2001"; "Israel's Border Wars, 1949-1956"; and "The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited,"

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