The war for Palestine : rewriting the history of 1948 / edited by Eugene L. Rogan and Avi Shlaim.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Rogan, Eugene, 1960-

Shlaim, Avi.

Series:

Cambridge Middle East studies ; 15.

Cambridge Middle East studies ; 15

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Israel-Arab War, 1948-1949.

Arab-Israeli conflict.

Israel-Arab War, 1948-1949--Historiography.

Arab-Israeli conflict--Historiography.

Historiography.

Physical Description:

xxiv, 285 pages : maps ; 24 cm.

Edition:

Second edition.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Summary:

The 1948 war led to the creation of the state of Israel, to the fragmentation of Palestine, and to a conflict which has raged across the intervening sixty years. The historical debate also continues and these debates are encapsulated in the essays contained in a second edition of The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948, updated to include chapters on Saudi Arabia and Lebanon. In a preface to the new edition, the editors survey the state of scholarship in this contested field. The fragmentation of the Israeli "New Historians" and the continued unwillingness of Arab societies to engage critically with their own past constrain the field, while new research opportunities are opened through private papers and oral history. The impact of these debates goes well beyond academia. There is an important link between the state of Arab-Israeli relations and popular attitudes towards the past. A more complex and fair-minded understanding of that past is essential for preserving at least the prospect of reconciliation between Arabs and Israel in the future. The rewriting of the history of 1948 thus remains a practical as well as an academic imperative.

Contents:

1 The Palestinians and 1948: the underlying causes of failure / Rashid Khalidi 12

2 Revisiting the Palestinian exodus of 1948 / Benny Morris 37

3 The Druze and the birth of Israel / Laila Parsons 60

4 Israel and the Arab coalition in 1948 / Avi Shlaim 79

5 Jordan and 1948: the persistence of an official history / Eugene L. Rogan 104

6 Iraq and the 1948 War: mirror of Iraq's disorder / Charles Tripp 125

7 Egypt and the 1948 War: internal conflict and regional ambition / Fawaz A. Gerges 150

8 Syria and the Palestine War: fighting King `Abdullah's "Greater Syria Plan" / Joshua Landis 176

9 Collusion across the Litani? Lebanon and the 1948 War / Matthew Hughes 204

10 Saudi Arabia and the 1948 Palestine War: beyond official history / Madawi Al-Rasheed 228

11 Afterword: the consequences of 1948 / Edward W. Said 248.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 262-271) and index.

Previous ed.: 2001.

ISBN:

9780521875981

0521875986

9780521699341

0521699347

OCLC:

166626166