Product Description

Great Britain ruled Palestine from 1917 to 1948. The British presence replaced 500 years of Turkish control and led to the State of Israel, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1998. The British brought Palestine into the twentieth century. When they arrived the country lay in a Levantine nirvana; by the time they left it had become the arena for one of the century's major international conflicts. Among the personalities who shape this narrative are Lawrence of Arabia, Winston Churchill, the archaeologist Flinders Petrie, King Feisal, Chaim Weizmann and David Ben Gurion. One momentous consequence of these 30 years was that the Jewish population increased by a factor of ten.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #183671 in Books
• Published on: 2001-10-04
• Original language: Hebrew
• Binding: Paperback
• 618 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Topicality is never an issue where Israel and the Palestinians are concerned. The arguments--not to mention bloodshed--over Jewish and Muslim nationhood and land rights have been going on for centuries and, whatever the best intentions of the current peace process, will probably go on for centuries to come. Both parties fanatically believe they have an inalienable historical right to statehood on the land in question and both regard Jerusalem as a holy City. As befits the disenfranchised, the Palestinians are slightly more open to a negotiated settlement, but the Israelis remain intransigent about handing over any but the most inhospitable of scrubland and the impasse remains. In the battle between the bullets and the ballot box, the bullets are winning hands down. Tom Segev is one of Israel's most notable historians and journalists--one of the few to strive for any sense of objectivity in his writings--so a new book by him is always worth waiting for. One Palestine, Complete is a detailed account of Palestine under British rule from 1917-48, the critical period in the modern history of the region that lead up to the creation of the state of Israel. Segev begins by carefully detailing Britain's well-known inconsistencies in dealing with both the Jews and the Arabs, both of whom it had appeared to promise if not the world, at least the country after independence was granted and goes on to make a convincing case that because Palestine fell into the category of an emotional rather than self-interested colonial possession, the Brits hoped the situation would unwind to everyone's mutual advantage. Where Segev departs from the historical norm is in his assertions that whatever the British may have said to the Palestinians their actions were uncompromisingly pro-Zionist from the off. This, he claims, was done out of the mistaken, anti-Semitic belief that the Jews controlled business and turned the wheels of history--in other words they were one of us--rather than a recognition of the rightness of their cause. Be this as it may, it is at best a partial explanation. Prior to the Second World War, Britain was on the verge of handing over Palestine to the Arabs and Segev completely downplays the impact of Western war guilt over the Holocaust that led to a huge growth in support for an independent Israeli state at the expense of Palestinian rights. Even so, One Palestine, Complete offers a thoughtful and dramatic account of the evolution of two nationalist movements that seem destined never to be reconciled. With a past like this, what hope is there for the future? --John Crace

Review
'Wonderfully readable and humane' INDEPENDENT 'New and remarkable ... this excellent book' SUNDAY TIMES 'Topicality is never an issue where Israel and the Palestinians are concerned. The arguments--not to mention bloodshed--over Jewish and Muslim nationhood and land rights have been going on for centuries and, whatever the best intentions of the current peace process, will probably go on for centuries to come. Both parties fanatically believe they have an inalienable historical right to statehood on the land in question and both regard Jerusalem as a holy City. As befits the disenfranchised, the Palestinians are slightly more open to a negotiated settlement, but the Israelis remain intransigent about handing over any but the most inhospitable of scrubland and the impasse remains. In the battle between the bullets and the ballot box, the bullets are winning hands down. Tom Segev is one of Israel's most notable historians and journalists--one of the few to strive for any sense of objectivity in his writings--so a new book by him is always worth waiting for. One Palestine, Complete is a detailed account of Palestine under British rule from 1917-48, the critical period in the modern history of the region that lead up to the creation of the state of Israel. Segev begins by carefully detailing Britain's well-known inconsistencies in dealing with both the Jews and the Arabs, both of whom it had appeared to promise if not the world, at least the country after independence was granted and goes on to make a convincing case that because Palestine fell into the category of an emotional rather than self-interested colonial possession, the Brits hoped the situation would unwind to everyone's mutual advantage. Where Segev departs from the historical norm is in his assertions that whatever the British may have said to the Palestinians their actions were uncompromisingly pro-Zionist from the off. This, he claims, was done out of the mistaken, anti-Semitic belief that the Jews controlled business and turned the wheels of history--in other words they were one of us--rather than a recognition of the rightness of their cause. Be this as it may, it is at best a partial explanation. Prior to the Second World War, Britain was on the verge of handing over Palestine to the Arabs and Segev completely downplays the impact of Western war guilt over the Holocaust that led to a huge growth in support for an independent Israeli state at the expense of Palestinian rights. Even so, One Palestine, Complete offers a thoughtful and dramatic account of the evolution of two nationalist movements that seem destined never to be reconciled. With a past like this, what hope is there for the future?' - John Crace, AMAZON.CO.UK REVIEW

SUNDAY TIMES
* 'New and remarkable ... this excellent book'

Customer Reviews

A first rate book!
For more than thirty years the British ruled Palestine. Having entered Jerusalem in November 1917 in the wake of the campaign against the joint Ottoman-German forces, they left it in May 1948 in the mist of the Jewish-Arab war and the Zionist terrorist campaign that resulted in the foundation of the State of Israel and the destruction of the Palestinian Arab society. In the mean time the British fulfilled the plead made to the Zionism movement in 1917 by Lord Balfour and laid the foundation of the Jewish state the Zionists have dreamed of. The relationship between the local British administration, the British government in London, the Zionist Organization, and the Jewish population in Palestine was not always smooth but London kept its promise and did help the Zionists (their fellow Europeans) against the native Arab majority when they needed more support and protection. As a result the Jewish population of Palestine rose from less than 10% in 1919 to a bit more than 1/3 in 1948, it organized itself politically and militarily under the British umbrella, and prepared itself for the final show-down with the Arab population whose organization and leaders, never too strong or organized anyway, had been mostly destroyed in the suppression of the Arab revolt of 1936-39, and could at no point match the superior administrative organization, military efficiency and international public relations skills of the Zionists. This excelent book describes these events and traces the diplomatic and political discussions between the British and the Zionists during these tumultuous years. The book is not only extremely interesting and well written, but also very entertaining and lively, due to the author very competent use of a score of diaries, letters and other private documents to make the reader feel the mood of the times and the atmosphere surronding the historical events: Count Ballobar's (Spain's consul in Jerusalem in the last days of the Ottoman rule) and Al-Sakakini's diaries are particularly delighful. The only drawback is the somewhat misleading subtitle: the book is essentially about the Yishuv and the Zionist Organization under British rule, not about the Arabs, that, although treated with a commendable degree of fairness and understanding when they enter the narrative, they do so, in most of the cases, only in reaction against the Jews or the Administration. They are mainly part of the landscape and not a subject of the narrative in an equal footing with the other two partners in the struggle for Palestine. Apart from this minor detail, which has probably more to do with the subtitle of the english translation than with the original intention of the author, this is indeed a first rate book

The Story of Jews and Britons Under The Mandate
Tom Segev's history of Palestine under the British Mandate utilises a number of diaries to chart the experiences of residents, political leaders and British administrators during the period 1917 to 1948. The book begins under the last days of Turkish rule and describes life as Allenby's forces approach Jerusalem. The very effective lobbying of Chaim Weitzmann in London and the effect of the Balfour Declaration from the government of Lloyd George, the establishment of the civilian British administration and the frantic activity of the main Zionist groups in Palestine are well related. The diary entries referred to above provide a very real local dimension to the history. The Jewish immigration and the establishment of a Jewish infrastructure, often with very real help from the British authorities, is contrasted with the lack of help or education offered to the Arab population; contrasting the implicit European versus 'native' approaches. The Arab Revolt of 1929 onwards, the creation of Tel Aviv and ultimately the effects of the Second World War are described with skill and clarity.

The acts of Jewish terrorism by Irgun (Etzel) and Haganah are mentioned but almost en passant. Here we have the general weakness of the narrative; the book is about the British and the Zionists, and the Arab presence is largely one dimensional despite some notable diary extracts. As so often happens, complete character profiles are given to many Jewish casualties whilst Arab losses are often just numbers. Unfortunately Segev also continues the idea that when the State of Israel was agreed at the UN many Arabs simply fled the country leaving it to the Jews. This is true, but many, many, more were driven from their towns and villages and died in the process. The long term planning and implementation of this co-ordinated and forced ejection is completely ignored. The book also appears to operate in a moral vacuum, in that whilst being very even handed in its description of events, it fails to address whether or not it can be right for an immigrant population to dispossess the indigenous Arabs of their land and country. An excellent and worthwhile read despite these criticisms.

utterly brilliant
I thoroughly enjoyed this vivid journey through the lives and events of peoples lives in the Holy land prior to 1948. It looks in depth at Britains attempts to retain some form of order within a nation rotten to the core. Britains attempt to retain a facade of stability was relatively successful until Arab & Jewish terrorism took root after the 1936-39 Arab revolt and the arms race it began. A much needed book giving a good look at how the people lived in the political hot-potato of Palestine. I fervently recommend this welll written book.