Paul Luckraft reviews a selection of books on the making of modern Israel to round off our celebration of her 70th anniversary.
‘The Legal Foundation and Borders of Israel under International Law’ by Howard Grief (732pp, Mazo Publishers, 2008/2013)
This is a weighty treatise on Jewish sovereignty over the Land of Israel, written by a legally-trained Canadian Zionist as the culmination of 25 years of serious study and analysis of Israel’s legal foundation and rights under international law.
Although as a whole this will appeal more to readers with specialised knowledge or interest, there are nevertheless certain chapters which will benefit anyone with a heart to know more about the legality of various claims.
Taking the Balfour Declaration and the subsequent San Remo Resolution as the origins of the legal title and sovereignty, he goes on to look at the continuation of these matters upon the termination of the British Mandate and discusses why these origins have become obscured and forgotten. Grief’s section on the meaning of Palestinian nationality during the British Mandate period and the Arab appropriation of the name ‘Palestinians’ will be helpful to the general reader, as will his overall approach and conclusions.
Available on Amazon in e-book, paperback and hardback forms, starting from £13.10.
Trilogy on the history of Israel, by Leslie Stein
‘The Hope Fulfilled, The Rise of Modern Israel’ (300pp, Praeger, 2003)
‘The Making of Modern Israel, 1948-1967’ (412pp, Polity Press, 2009)
‘Israel Since the Six Day War’ (440pp, Polity Press, 2014)
The first volume in this trilogy effectively starts with the first Aliyah in 1882 and covers the origins of modern political Zionism. Stein then works his way through the second Aliyah (1904-1914), the First World War and the Balfour Declaration and the early years of British Rule in Palestine (1917-1930). The difficult years from 1930 onwards leads us towards World War 2 and the post-war struggle for independence.
The second volume, as its title suggests, tackles the important two decades from independence to the Six Day War and its aftermath. Although some of this is extremely well known, other parts of this period are often overlooked. Stein does us great service by providing a continual commentary through these years, for instance focussing on the Sinai campaign and interlude between this and the Six Day War.
The third volume looks at the aftermath of the Six Day War and the prelude to the Yom Kippur War, and then brings us up to date through the 1980s and 1990s, culminating in the al-Aqsa (second) Intifada (2000). Overall, it is as a set of three volumes that Stein’s work is to be most appreciated, and would sit well on the shelves next to other writings on these themes.
Available on Amazon: here, here and here respectively, starting at £11.39.
‘A History of Israel: from the Rise of Zionism to Our Time’ by Howard Sachar, (887pp, Knopf, 1979/2007)
The late Howard Sachar, Professor Emeritus of History and International Affairs at the George Washington University in Washington, DC, has written many books on the Middle East and Jewish history, but this one is regarded as definitive.
Its full, single-volume account of the Jewish movement towards statehood and the period since was updated significantly in 2007, extending its comprehensive study up to the 2006 Lebanon war. This is a classic that is both readable and informative in its analysis.
Available on Amazon in paperback, hardback and Kindle forms, starting at £23.08.
‘Churchill’s Promised Land: Zionism and Statecraft’ by Michael Makovsky (368pp, Yale University Press, 2007)
For anyone with an interest in Churchill in general and his relationship with Zionism in particular, Makovsky’s book is a well-constructed and balanced study that will enable the reader to gain a clearer perspective of the role of this key figure at a vital time in the history of the Middle East.
Churchill’s political and intellectual response to the Zionist project is a complex one, and Makovsky manages to explore this in an honest and approachable way which will shed light on the man, his beliefs and the practicalities of politics.
Available on Amazon in paperback, hardback and Kindle forms, starting at £10.