O Jerusalem!

O’Jerusalem is that rare confluence of events that transpire when several unusual circumstances arise to create a compelling and long-lasting masterpiece. First, we have the event itself, the dramatic and tragic story of Jerusalem, the Holy City, torn apart by two opposing sides during the 1948 Arab-Israel war. Second, two journalists, Larry Collins and Dominque Lapierre took the time to conduct hundreds of interviews with key participants over several years, allowing them to publish not only new information that historians rely upon, but visceral accounts that put the reader in the center of the maelstrom. It was extremely fortunate that the two journalists who undertook this task were no ordinary writers, but gifted storytellers. Collins and Lapierre put you front and center in all the momentous events that occurred in such a short period of time: The UN vote to partition Palestine and the joy it caused among the Jews and grief it caused among the Arabs, the battles along the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway, highlighted by one attack in late March that nearly caused Jewish Jerusalem to starve, the destruction of the Hurva and fall of the Old City, the two grueling battles of Latrun, the fall of Kfar Etzion, the building of the Burma Road, the massacres at Deir Yassin and Hadassah Hospital. All are recounted in rich, full detail, with their victims, Arab and Jew alike, accorded full sympathy by the authors. These events are not just dramatic, they are important, and their import continued to resonate today. Therefore, if you only read this one book on the entire Arab-Israel conflict, you will have a great starting point, much like if you read the author’s excellent next book, Freedom at Midnight, covering the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 (also highly recommended). I have read well over a hundred books on this subject and can tell you that this is easily among my top five. On a personal note, I was so impressed by the writing style of this book that it was a major influence in writing my own history of Israel. O’Jerusalem is a well-known and richly deserved masterpiece.

Don’t let the heading dissuade you from reading this book. The reason it was difficult to read was because of the gross amount of injustice that you learn about on the road to Israel’s Statehood. The authors have done a phenomenal job researching such a significant historical event from all sides of the conflict. They are commended for the integritous way which they represented information. With that in mind, there were times the conflicts were so great and the injustices so severe that I had to stop reading in order recollect myself. We have the advantage of looking back over the past several decades to see the fruit of that statehood. Even today, it is hard to understand why there is so much hatred toward the Jewish people of Israel from the Arabs. It is like an irrational tribalism that just is fed from generation to generation. Consider the size of a football field, then place a postage stamp on it. It is the size of Israel compared to all of the Arab countries in that region of the world. Why will those countries not take in the Arabs from Israel? Because the leaders know those people create trouble and they don’t want it. Anyone interested in truly understanding the history of Israel and the conflicts that still run through the Arab Muslim communities and the undercurrent of hatred that will not die, need to read this book. While there are no innocent parties, there are those that aggressively seek to destroy the other to this day. The purpose of this review is not too creative division but stimulate interest to read the book and develop opinions based on factual history. The best way I can summarize my thoughts on this book is a quote from the current Prime Minister: “If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israe.” Benjamin Netanyahu

The Truth about what really happened in 1948

Having postponed reading this tome since its publication in 1972. am glad to finally be able to sink my teeth into it...having replaced the unread paperback whose pages were falling out, making reading nigh impossible. Hate throwing books out, but it was unsalvageable... replaced by the used, hard bound copy I now have. Good reading.

It is a piece of common wisdom that every story has two sides and the story of Israel's independence is no exception. Through painstaking research and impressive first hand accounts, Larry Collins has recreated, as faithfully as possible, this incredible story, fraught with intense emotions on both sides. Explanations of where the authors received their information gives this account a legitimacy that allows the reader to decide for themselves the accuracy of the retelling of these events. Building on this impressive research base, the story told is compelling, written in a style that draws the reader in and makes them feel as though then themselves are witnessing the events. It is fast paced, moving back and forth from the Jewish side to the Arab sides, describing the strategies, strengths,and weaknesses of both, from the months leading up to the UN partition vote, to the excruciating war that followed. This book is a must read for anyone wishing to have a foundational, unbiased understanding of the conflicts underwriting the situation in modern Israel and the middle east.

Excellent read. Amazing details of Israel’s formation and the Arab conflict. Easy to follow with intricate details of this ongoing crises.

Necesito cambiar el libro por otro igual al español... O JERUSALEN.

Produit déjà connu. C'était pour offrir.

“O Jerusalem” is a must-read for the entire Ivy League and other students all over the world who turned out to be brainwashed by their antisemitic professors. In a genre of documentary action, Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins disclose the root cause of the first and all next Arab-Israeli wars. The adoption of UN Resolution 181 triggered clashes between Jewish and Arab communities who beforehand peacefully coexisted on the same streets. (The authors provide some heart-breaking examples of how this coexistence brutally stopped). Right from the beginning, Arabs rejected the idea of having two states and didn’t even try to hide their plan to start the war against the newly created Jewish state. In the book there is a scene of how Ben-Gurion looks at the young people celebrating the adoption of Resolution 181, and it fills him with sorrow for he knows that “they all will go to war”. And what was the position of Britain whose mandate for Palestine was ending? Well, Britain signaled to Arabs that they can start the war and in parallel prohibited Palestinian Jews to buy weapons from abroad and European Jews - to immigrate to Palestine. Not to mention that during the last months of its mandate, Britain (as a true colonialist) was bringing away from Palestine construction materials and all possible goods, which could be of great use for the new Jewish state. So Jews were preparing to withstand Arabs while facing plenty of obstacles from Britain. In the book, the reader will find many examples of how some brilliant Jewish minds found the ways to overcome the British embargo and against all odds prepare the future state for its first war. The beginning of the war is described dramatically. Right after the State of Israel was proclaimed, six armies from seven Arab states (Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, and Transjordan) invaded the Holy Land. (Yemen had just a handful of soldiers, but therefore there was the famous Jordanian Arab legion trained and equipped by Brits). The only goal of seven Arab states was to eliminate the newly born state and in particular, to strangle those Jewish troops defending Jerusalem. As of that moment, the book turns into a documentary blockbuster describing military traps and tricks, heroic deeds and tragic losses of Israeli defenders. At a certain point it looked like the State of Israel will fall but then Arab aggressors made one mistake, which changed the course of history. It’s not only a well-researched and well-documented book but also an inspiring read about the dream of having own state, which Jews could realize only thanks to their courage and intelligence.

Llegó un poco maltratado, desconozco si ya venia así o fue de la paquetería pero el contenido del libro es excelente! muy buen libro

Another amazing book by these authors (the other one I read from then was "freedom at midnight"). I highly recommend this one