The Palestine-Israeli Conflict: A Beginner's Guide

by Dan Cohn-Sherbok, Dawoud El-Alami

Overview

The essential guide that allows both sides to be heard

Rabbi Professor Dan Cohn-Sherbok presents the Israeli perspective, while Dr Dawoud El-Alami presents the Palestinian perspective

Updated to cover the most recent events, including the US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the May 2021 fighting in Gaza, this bestselling introduction explores the history, motivations and people behind the Palestine–Israel conflict – and assesses the prospects for peace after almost eighty years.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780861543717
Publisher:	Oneworld Publications
Publication date:	08/04/2022
Series:	Beginner's Guides
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	409,702
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Dan Cohn-Sherbok is Professor Emeritus of Judaism at the University of Wales.

Dawoud El-Alami was a Reader in Islamic Studies at the University of Aberdeen until his retirement in 2021.
Rabbi Professor Dan Cohn-Sherbok is Professor of Judaism at the University of Wales, Lampeter. He is the author of over fifty books including the acclaimed The Palestine Israeli Conflict: A Beginner's Guide, co-authored with Dawoud El-Alami.
Dawoud El-Alami is a lecturer on Islamic Studies at the University of Wales, Lampeter.

Table of Contents

Preface to the fifth edition vii

Prefaces to previous editions viii

Chronology xiii

A Jewish perspective Dan Cohn-Sherbok

1 The Zionist movement 3

2 Beyond the First World War 24

3 The Jewish state 44

4 The Six-Day War and its aftermath 64

5 The road to peace 84

6 Before and after September 11 104

7 Renewed aggression 121

A Palestinian perspective Dawoud El-Alami

8 The origins of modern Palestine 137

9 Palestinians, Jews and the British 154

10 Towards the establishment of a Jewish state 181

11 Arabs and Jews 194

12 Towards liberation 212

13 The wall 237

14 The legacy of the old guard 246

Debate 266

Glossary 297

Notes 301

Bibliography 309

Index 314

Editorial Reviews

This publication offers a rare insight into the Palestinian-Israeli dilemma while outlining political, religious, historical, and emotional issues in the struggle for peace. It is unique in brilliantly bringing together two authors who represent the two peoples in the conflict: Cohn-Sherbok is Rabbi Professor of Judaism, and El-Alami is a lecturer in Islamic studies at the University of Wales, Lampeter. Each introduces his argument and then offers a rebuttal of the other's position. Cohn-Sherbok views the creation of a Jewish state as a necessity, basing it on a history of anti-Semitism, migration, and the Holocaust. He recounts visions of historical figures such as Theodor Herzl and David Ben-Gurion and the Balfour Declaration in 1917, which permitted the legal acquisition of land. Conversely, El-Alami questions the legality and morality of the land acquisition process and supports the Palestinian struggle. He documents over 2000 years of history, moving through the Ottoman Empire, and points out numerous "secret negotiations and broken promises." Both authors tend to blame the other side, or a third party, but offer some resolutions for settling the impasse. This book would serve as an essential primer in public or academic libraries. Ethan P. Pullman, Univ. of Pittsburgh Lib. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

'A must for anybody interested in understanding the conflict in the Middle East.'

George Joffe

"A very interesting ooportunity for the reader to appreciate both sides of a comples issue. A must for anybody interested in understanding the conflict in the Middle East." George Joffe, Director of Studies, Royal Institute for International Affairs, London

From the Publisher

There are no dispassionate accounts of the conflict that racks the Holy Land, nor should there be. As this intelligent and important book makes clear, it is hard to be dispassionate when you believe that you are fighting for your life; and both the authors remind us that no less than this is what is felt to be at stake. But conflict is always intensified by ignorance. What this book does is to test how far we can go in mapping out a common history and exactly where and how this common history comes to be read differently. It offers no magical solution to this most persistent and harrowing conflict of our times, but it refuses to settle down with slogans, and models the possibility of a painful, honest – even angry – dialogue that does not simply freeze into mutual uncomprehending hatred.

Dr. Rowan Williams

'A must for anybody interested in understanding the conflict in the Middle East.'

George Joffé

‘There are no dispassionate accounts of the conflict that racks the Holy Land, nor should there be. As this intelligent and important book makes clear, it is hard to be dispassionate when you believe that you are fighting for your life; and both the authors remind us that no less than this is what is felt to be at stake. But conflict is always intensified by ignorance. What this book does is to test how far we can go in mapping out a common history and exactly where and how this common history comes to be read differently. It offers no magical solution to this most persistent and harrowing conflict of our times, but it refuses to settle down with slogans, and models the possibility of a painful, honest – even angry – dialogue that does not simply freeze into mutual uncomprehending hatred.’

Dr Rowan Williams