The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948

by Edited by Eugene L. Rogan , Avi Shlaim

• ISBN13: 9780521699341
• ISBN10: 0521699347
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-11-19
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The 1948 war led to the creation of the state of Israel, the fragmentation of Palestine, and to a conflict which has raged across the intervening sixty years. The historical debate likewise continues and these debates are encapsulated in the second edition of The War for Palestine, 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 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.

Table of Contents

Notes on contributors	p. vii
Chronology	p. ix
List of abbreviations	p. xi
Maps	p. xiii
Preface to the second edition	p. xvii
Introduction	p. 1
The Palestinians and 1948: the underlying causes of failure	p. 12
Revisiting the Palestinian exodus of 1948	p. 37
The Druze and the birth of Israel	p. 60
Israel and the Arab coalition in 1948	p. 79
Jordan and 1948: the persistence of an official history	p. 104
Iraq and the 1948 War: mirror of Iraq's disorder	p. 125
Egypt and the 1948 War: internal conflict and regional ambition	p. 150
Syria and the Palestine War: fighting King `Abdullah's "Greater Syria Plan"	p. 176
Collusion across the Litani? Lebanon and the 1948 War	p. 204
Saudi Arabia and the 1948 Palestine War: beyond official history	p. 228
Afterword: the consequences of 1948	p. 248
Bibliography	p. 262
Index	p. 272
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