Product Description

This text examines one of the most complex problems that bedeviled Middle East politics in the interwar period. It demolishes the myth that Palestine was a "twice-promised land" and shows that the changes of fraudulence and deception leveled against the British are groundless.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2504257 in Books
• Published on: 1999-07-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 411 pages

Synopsis
This text examines one of the most complex problems that bedeviled Middle East politics in the interwar period. It demolishes the myth that Palestine was a "twice-promised land" and shows that the changes of fraudulence and deception leveled against the British are groundless.

Customer Reviews

Dispels the myths and inaccuracies
The author, a Professor of History, provides an extremely readable, detailed analysis of the contentious issue surrounding allegations, that during World War 1, the British Government made conflicting promises to the Jews, Arabs and French in relation to areas of the Middle East - especially Palestine.

Accusations which are shown to still have implications to the present day.

As already stated, this book thoroughly examines the correspondence between Britain's Lord Kitchener and Sir Henry McMahon and Sherif Hussein of Mecca.

Through a systematic examination of documents, archival evidence, references, memoirs and other relevant sources, the book reveals how charges of deception and fraudulence directed at the British pertaining to these pivotal issues are groundless.

Replete with extensive and definitive documentary references and direct quotations, the reader is shown that authentic documents of the time demonstrate that Palestine was not included in the area over which Great Britain was prepared to acknowledge independence for the Arabs, and that Arab leaders such as Sharif Hussein were fully aware of this fact.

The essence of this study being that the British promised Palestine to the Jews and not to the Arabs.

One notable reference is that to McMahon's letter of 24 October 1915 to the Sharif Hussein of Mecca, the contents of which are shown to have never been relevant to Palestine.

Amongst many pertinent issues revealed by this investigation is that any alleged Arab opposition to Zionism only became prominent in the late 1920s and during the 1930s and that British statesmen in fact had good reason to believe that the two Semitic nations would cohabit harmoniously.

References being cited which show that leading Arabs were not perturbed by the Balfour Declaration and even allegedly agreed enthusiastically to Jewish settlement in Palestine.

Some notable people of the period even shown to be on record as stating that the process surrounding the rebirth of a Jewish homeland would substantially improve the standard of living of the existing Arab/Jewish population in Palestine.

I would recommend this study to anyone who is interested in the history of events surrounding the re-birth of the Jewish state of Israel and parallel events in relation to Palestine and the Ottoman Empire.

The information provided in this work is not only highly relevant, but perhaps essential to any accurate understanding of the history surrounding such pivotal issues in the region's history.

Thank you for your time.

Other recommended studies include;

"Israel and Palestine; Assault on the Law of Nations" by Professor Julius Stone,

"A History of Palestine, 634-1099" by Professor Moshe Gil,

"Empires Of The Sands; The Struggle for Mastery in the Middle East, 1789 1923" by Inari & Efraim Karsh.

"From Time Immemorial; The Origins of the Arab Jewish Conflict Over Palestine" by Joan Peters.

"A Peace To End All Peace; The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace" by David Fromkin.

"The Palestine War 1948" by Efraim Karsh.