The Palestine War 1948

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Summary of The First Arab-Israeli War
Review: It is probably impossible at this point in history to write a completely objective history of the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 and the first Arab-Israeli War that it sparked. Most people tend to view either the Israelis or the Palestinians as the victims of aggression, and the other party as responsible for everything that followed from the UN vote on partition in 1947. Efraim Karsh has written an excellent summary of the 1948 War from the Israeli point of view. Pro-Arab readers will not find this account objective, but then there is certainly a paucity of Arab sources which can approach the subject of "the Zionist Entity" (i.e. Israel) with anything like the relative even-handedness that Karsh is able to muster. As far as objectivity goes, Karsh is probably more unfair to the British and the Americans than he is to the Palestinians. Military readers will find this volume useful, but they will notice that the detail on military operations is somewhat superficial. Nevertheless, The Arab-Israeli Conflict: The Palestine War 1948 is an excellent addition to Osprey's Essential Histories series.


Karsh begins the volume with a well-written that outlines the background to the conflict, stretching from the Britain's 1917 Balfour Declaration that supported the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine, to the 1937 Peel Commission which called for the creation of separate Jewish and Arab states in Palestine to the 1947 UN Partition Plan. Karsh paints the Palestinian Arabs as adamantly opposed to any kind of compromise from the 1920s on, but he fails to note that the Zionists were offered the option of creating a Jewish homeland in less controversial parts of the British Empire and refused it out of hand. The section on the opposing sides is particularly good, but I wish that Osprey would change the format to require a simple table that summarizes the population and troop strength of each side. Karsh is particularly interesting in noting that Arab military operations in Palestine were dominated by Iraqi and Syrian generals and that the Israelis were not as badly out-numbered as often thought. The volume includes ten maps: the Middle East 1948; the UN partition Plan; the Battle for Haifa; the Arab invasion of Israel; the situation after the first truce; Operation "Danny," Operation "Horev," the first Israeli attack on Latrun; Operation "Uvda," the 1949 armistice line. No maps depicting fighting around Jerusalem - an odd omission since much of the fighting took place on the approaches to the city. The bibliography is a bit short for such a controversial subject - only eleven references - and it omits Dupuy's Elusive Victory, which is one of the better military accounts available.


Karsh's narrative of the war itself begins with the Arabs' categorical rejection of any partition and the outbreak of war immediately upon the announcement of the UN partition plan in November 1947. Karsh writes that the Arab states around Palestine - Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan and Syria - had their own diverse objectives and each wanted to incorporate Palestinian territory into their own countries. It seems that Karsh is suggesting that Palestine was going to get carved up anyway, so the Israelis might as well get their fair share - a bit of a self-justifying rationalization. Karsh also tends to suggest that the Palestinian people did not fight for their own land - that they let other Arabs fight for them and then ran away when things got bad - but this ignores the thousands of Palestinian guerrillas that did harass Israeli lines of communication. Lacking a state and an army, the Palestinians were poorly positioned to conduct large-scale military operations, but Karsh's aspersions on their willingness to fight also lean toward rationalizing the seizure of Palestinian lands. As Karsh sees it, the Israelis had their backs against the wall early in the war as they struggled to sustain supply lines to isolated towns, but when they shifted to an offensive strategy in April 1948 they gained the initiative that led to victory. Karsh sees the Palestinian leadership's decision to evacuate major cities like Haifa as a foolish move that snowballed into more than 500,000 refugees by the end of the war.


While Karsh tends to justify Israel's harsh treatment of the Palestinians by claiming that they didn't fight much and they were going to lose their land anyway, his treatment of the British and the Americans is even more blatantly biased. Karsh avoids mentioning the role of foreigners in shaping Israel's defense force, such as British Colonel Orde Wingate and American Colonel David "Mickey" Marcus. Wingate formed and trained the first Jewish armed units to resist Arab attacks in 1936 these troops would become the Palmach, as well as becoming an ardent Zionist. Marcus arrived in Israeli in May 1948 and was given command of Israeli forces in Jerusalem until he was killed two weeks later; the "Burma Road" mentioned by Karsh was Marcus' idea. While Karsh omits mentioning either Wingate or Marcus, he does frequently mention British indifference to Arab attacks on Israelis, which readers may find mean-spirited. Perhaps if Karsh had mentioned the fact that Jewish terrorists blew up the British headquarters in the King David Hotel in July 1946, killing 91 British, this indifference might have made more sense. Karsh also criticizes the American fear that Israel might become a Marxist state, but then forgets to mention that the first country to recognize Israel was the USSR and the first large arms shipments to Israel came from Czechoslovakia. In 1948, the Arab regimes looked fairly pro-Western, but Israel was suspect in US and British eyes.


As Karsh sees it, Israelis did not so much steal Palestinian land as the Palestinians abandoned their land due to duplicity and betrayal by their own leaders. There are certainly grains of truth in this view, but if it were strictly true, then the Palestinians today would have no reason to continue their struggle against Israel.


Rating:
Summary: Priceless, concise study of Arab-Israeli issue.
Review: An absolutely compelling read on the Middle East by Efraim Karsh, the Head of Mediterranean Studies at Kings College, University of London.

Examined in detail are the origins and progressions of the conflict between the Jewish & Arab populations of `British' Mandatory Palestine, prior to the re-birth of the Jewish state in 1948, together with an in-depth study of the subsequent Arab invasion of Israel by the armies of Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.

The latter invasion of the Jewish state following an Arab decision to reject the UN Resolution calling for the partition of `Palestine' into two independent states, (one Arab & one Jewish with Jerusalem as an `international' city, with all citizens having the right of either Jewish or Arab citizenship).

Efraim Karsh provides excellent background material so relevant to any serious or sincere understanding of this time in history. He makes an essential reference to a direct quotation at the time of the public declaration of Jamal Al-Hussein, the Vice-president of the A.H.C. (Arab High Committee - the effective Palestinian-Arab `government');-

"We are sadly and PERMANENTLY determined to fight to the last man against the existence in our country of ANY Jewish state, no matter how small it is..."

Karsh also quotes with similar relevancy the damning , callous and chilling indictment of the prevalent hatred towards the Jews, still so soon after the Holocaust, when he makes reference to the general public circular of the same Arab High Committee which publicly declared;-

"The Arabs have taken into their own hands, the FINAL SOLUTION of the Jewish problem. The problem will be solved only in blood and fire. The Jews will be driven out."

The subsequent ensuing conflict based clearly upon an intended genocide resulting in the loss of some 1% of the fledgling Jewish states' population.

In further illustration of the context of the struggles in this land, Karsh proceeds to illustrate that the roots of this conflict and unrest stretch way back to the Roman destruction of Jewish statehood in the Land that subsequently became known later as `Palestine'.

Karsh declares that, despite having had a continuous presence in their own homeland without at any time having this presence severed, the Jews became a numerical minority under a long succession of foreign occupiers during the next 1,900 years or so. Such foreign occupiers including the Byzantines, the Seljuk Turks, Crusaders, Mamluks, Ottoman Turks, the British and the Arabs. Highlighted is the fact that, despite these periods of foreign occupation, the Jews never gave up their claim/right to their homeland. Facts illustrated by Karsh by long forgotten or sidestepped by the international community.

Returning to the time of the British Mandate, Karsh also documents the Jewish immigration into Palestine and the treatment of what the British classed as `illegal immigrants' by the British forces occupying Palestine at that time. The provision of British concentration camps on Cyprus for those Jews `caught' and the Arab-Jewish-British struggles in the Land also being demonstrated.

Details and maps and plentifully provided and commendable detail is included relating to both sides in the conflict, plus the inevitable consequences & conclusions pertaining to the conflict itself are studied.

Karsh shows another oft-forgotten factor in that around the time of the Balfour Declaration in 1917, which supported a Jewish homeland in then Palestine, resident Arabs actually welcomed the moves. Palestinian Arab residents having been recently subject to Ottoman rule and most of these Arab residents viewed themselves as subjects of the Ottoman empire and were themselves totally impervious to the nationalistic tendencies of small `extremist' groups. Hence the increasing Jewish presence of the post First World War years encountered little widespread opposition.

Of course events rapidly changed and Karsh documents these commendably, including how Britain (granted the League of Nations Mandate at San Remo in 1920) reneged on it's agreement to establish a Jewish state in Palestine. Britain, with a stroke of a pen, giving the huge majority of then Palestine to the formation of the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. Britain, in furtherance of it's policy of Arab appeasement, proceeding to greatly restrict further Jewish immigration into the remnant of Palestine....the rest is history.

This is highly recommended, essential reading on the Palestinian-Israeli issue and is a priceless addition to anyone's library.

Approaching only 100 pages or so, this study is precise, concise and provides easy reference to those who do not wish to delve through enormous lengthy studies.

As one of a relatively new series of books, I can only recommend and encourage Karsh and other authors to publish additional such precise studies in this same series on the just as relevant issues surrounding the 1967 Six Day War, 1973 Yom Kippur War, 1982 Lebanon conflict, plus the Palestinian intifadas and parallel issues.

Rating:
Summary: Bias in favor of the truth is no fault
Review: Karsh is perhaps the single best historian on the events surrounding Israel's independence in 1948 and any work of his is highly recommended. As far as the comments of the reader below go, Karsh wrote an entire book, "Fabricating Israeli History: The 'New Historians'" that documents not only the inaccuracies but the emendations, misquotations, mistranslations and outright lies of the likes of Avi Shlaim. The latest salvo in this contest between true historians like Karsh and politically motivated absurdists like Shlaim can be viewed in a letter exchange between Karsh and Benny Morris in the March 2004 issue of Commentary Magazine available on-line in the Commentary Magazine website archive (though you may have to pay for access). Anyone considering the merits of Karsh's work would do well to start there. The point worth bearing in mind is that evenhandedness is fine as far it goes, but only so long as it does not result in giving equal time to facts and to distortions. Should, say, a scholar of the Holocaust who took the time out to write an entire book debunking Holocaust deniers give space to their distortions in a general introduction to the Holocaust? And while for complex psychological reasons painting liberal democratic and humane Western nations as demonic while refashioning rebarbative people and governments as noble victims gives comfort to many on the Left, it makes for no more valid history than the tendentious rantings of certain professors of English and Comparative Literature or Linguisitics about matters outside their fields of expertise. If you want to read lies too, fiction is often enjoyable. But don't miss Karsh if you'd actually like the facts. Oh, and as to the shock expressed by the reviewer below about the lack of footnotes: This book is a general introduction, a volume in a series of slender books on important wars put out by an English publishing house. There are no footnotes to any books in the series. The decision not to have footnotes, one would imagine, is likely that of the editors of the series, not the individual authors.

Rating:
Summary: Bias in favor of the truth is no fault
Review: Karsh is perhaps the single best historian on the events surrounding Israel's independence in 1948 and any work of his is highly recommended. As far as the comments of the reader below go, Karsh wrote an entire book, "Fabricating Israeli History: The 'New Historians'" that documents not only the inaccuracies but the emendations, misquotations, mistranslations and outright lies of the likes of Avi Shlaim. The latest salvo in this contest between true historians like Karsh and politically motivated absurdists like Shlaim can be viewed in a letter exchange between Karsh and Benny Morris in the March 2004 issue of Commentary Magazine available on-line in the Commentary Magazine website archive (though you may have to pay for access). Anyone considering the merits of Karsh's work would do well to start there. The point worth bearing in mind is that evenhandedness is fine as far it goes, but only so long as it does not result in giving equal time to facts and to distortions. Should, say, a scholar of the Holocaust who took the time out to write an entire book debunking Holocaust deniers give space to their distortions in a general introduction to the Holocaust? And while for complex psychological reasons painting liberal democratic and humane Western nations as demonic while refashioning rebarbative people and governments as noble victims gives comfort to many on the Left, it makes for no more valid history than the tendentious rantings of certain professors of English and Comparative Literature or Linguisitics about matters outside their fields of expertise. If you want to read lies too, fiction is often enjoyable. But don't miss Karsh if you'd actually like the facts. Oh, and as to the shock expressed by the reviewer below about the lack of footnotes: This book is a general introduction, a volume in a series of slender books on important wars put out by an English publishing house. There are no footnotes to any books in the series. The decision not to have footnotes, one would imagine, is likely that of the editors of the series, not the individual authors.

Rating:
Summary: Extremely Biased
Review: Karsh's work is reasonably well-written, and comprehensive enough that it theoretically could serve as an introduction for someone interested in learning about the Palestine War of 1948. However, though presented under the guise of objective history, it is unabashedly biased in favor of Israel (something that emerges in the author's other writings, as well). Additionally, sources are NEVER footnoted, and indeed reference to other works is limited to a very slim "Further Reading" list presented at the back of the book. It is noteworthy that most of the work cited in this list belongs to the 1960s and 1970s (thus ignoring the work of such ISRAELI authors as Avi Shlaim or Martin Van Creveld - both of whom are less biased than Karsh), the notable exception being Karsh's own work.

Rating:
Summary: Concise History of the 1948 War for Israeli Independence
Review: Osprey, a well-known publisher of militaria: campaign histories, troop studies, equipment analysis, etc., has brought this fine history of the 1948 War for Israeli Independence. The book uses another title for the conflict: The Palestine War of 1948, which is preferred in some British academic circles. Efraim Karsh is an Israeli academic working in the United Kingdom. He has extensively written covering different aspects of Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The book is a concise (92 page) study of the conflict covering the rising paramilitary action before the British withdrawal until the eventual ceasefires declared between Israel and the Arab invaders. There is some analysis also of the Palestinian-Arab refugee issue as well as early Arab and Jewish state building. The real jewels of the book, of course, are its' many beautiful photographs, gorgeous illustrations, and helpful maps and graphs. A very useful timeline or chronology is also included. Karsh does include a bibliography, but doesn't use footnotes to reference his writing. His bibliography includes a wide variety of authors including Arabs, Israelis, anti-Zionists, and Zionists: Musa Alami, Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre, Chaim Herzog, Efraim Karsh, Issa Khalaf, Rashid Khalidi, Walid Khalidi, Jon and David Kimche, Dan Kurzman, Walter Laqueur, and Natanel Lorch.

Another of the book's attractive aspects is that the book includes some oft forgotten details of the war. Some of these details include the fact that the people we now call Palestinians identified themselves as parts of a greater Arab nation rather than an individual people seeking individual sovereignty. Neither does Karsh forgot to include that the Jews have had a continuous presence in Israel for thousands of years. Many writers gloss over this fact and call the Israelis colonists, settlers, or foreign peoples. They are not. Israel is their home and has been for thousands of years. Karsh also writes about the early connections between the Nazis and the Arabs in Israel / Palestine.

I highly recommend this book as an excellent introductory volume to the 1948 War for Israeli Independence.

Review by: Maximillian Ben Hanan