The Israel-Palestine Conflict
One Hundred Years of War
2nd Edition
- Published: November 2007 Cambridge University Press
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9780521716529
- extent: 296 pages
- dimensions: 229 x 152 x 18 mm
- 22 b/w illus. 11 maps
- genre: History / Twentieth Century Regional History
The conflict between Israelis and their forebears, on the one hand, and Palestinians and theirs, on the other, has lasted more than a century and generated more than its share of commentaries and histories. James L. Gelvin's account of that conflict offers a compelling, clear-cut, and up to date introduction for students and general readers. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, when the inhabitants of Ottoman Palestine and the Jews of eastern Europe began to conceive of themselves as members of national communities, the book traces the evolution and interaction of these communities from their first encounters in Palestine through to the present, exploring the external pressures and internal logic that has propelled their conflict. The book, which places events in Palestine within the framework of global history, skillfully interweaves biographical sketches, eyewitness accounts, poetry, fiction and official documentation into its narrative, and includes photographs, maps and an abundance of supplementary material.
Now in a revised edition, Gelvin's award-winning book takes the reader through the 2006 Summer War and its aftermath.
Reviews
"Gelvin's book, with maps, illustrations, a glossary, thumbnail biographies, and a lean, well- chosen list of suggestions for further reading, fits the genre of the academic textbook at its best. Gelvin sets out the historical context in which Israeli nationalism and Palestinian nationalism have met and contended (and still contend) and keeps the narrative of this evolving confrontation on track even while shifting the focus from the international to the regional and back, and blending in the economic, ideological, and psychological dimensions. Throughout the book, he evokes seemingly banal incidents, such as the Jewish Palestine Pavilion at the 1939-40 New York World's Fair or a poem by an eminent Palestinian poet, to illumine larger issue. Balanced, fair, and readable, this is a fine historical synthesis."
- L. Carl Brown, Foreign Affairs
"There is little doubt that this book represents a concise, readily accessible, and intelligent survey of the historical development of the Israel-Palestine conflict."
- Nigel J. Ashton,The Journal of Iwpcitol and Commonwealth History
"The Israel-Palestine Conflict is an accessible, engaging, and lucid introduction to the history of the struggle for Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict. Anyone who wants a clear, well-informed, fair-minded survey of the Palestine question will benefit from reading this book, but even specialists who had thought there was nothing new one could possibly say about this topic may find it of interest."- Zachary Lockman. New York University
James L. Gelvin is Professor in History at the University of California, Los Angeles. His research focuses on nationalism and the social and cultural history of the modern Middle East during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He is the author of Divided Loyalties: Nationalism and Mass Politics in Syria at the Close of Empire (1998) and The Modern Middle East: A History (2004).
