Year Zero of the Arab-Israeli Conflict 1929 (The Schusterman Series in Israel Studies)

During a recent "dual narrative" tour of The Holy Land (one Palestinian and one Israeli guide, each full time), I asked "What were relations like before 1948?". In answer, one of our guides recommended this book. I am glad I asked, glad that he answered as he did, and glad that I read it. The reader of this book will better understand the answer to that question, but also the question "Why do the two people see things so differently now?" There is not a simple answer that suffices, but this book begins a non-simple answer that we can understand.

A strained, bizarre exercise in equivalence. Strangely edited, with a subhead for virtually every paragraph, many of them one word ("But"). The whole thing seems sloppy, with lots of unnecessary moral posturing from the author. In his review (in Hebrew), the historian Benny Morris called the book "fuzzy post-Zionism" full of "disproportionate equivalence." That strikes me as about right. If you're into that kind of thing, go for it, but there are better books that show Mandate-era Zionists in a critical light. Moreover, the review that the publisher excerpts (see above) from the Jewish Review of Books is actually an overwhelmingly negative one. Finally, I'd add that Hillel Cohen's book "Army of Shadows," on Palestinian collaboration with Zionism, is excellent. Not sure what went wrong with this one.

Very informative and absorbing. Arrived on time.

This is a brilliantly and completely researched nook covering what is, in fact, a rather small series of events in a remote location. It would be nothing more than an academic exercise were the place not Israel/Palestine at the beginning of the most intractable conflict of modern times.The style is more like that of a brilliant lecturer/raconteur than a heads up piece of academic prose. The story leaps forward and back and from place to place (in this very little country) but keeps focused on staying clear and accurate.The national myths of both the current generation of Israelis and Palestinians are exposed by the bright lights of tireless research as just that...myths created out of thin air and buttressed by very selective reading of hard data.I am an American Jew who came of age reared on the milk of the Zionist myth. And I can not imagine a simple solution to the Palestinian 'nakhba' or the Jewish aspiration for Independant nationhood. There are no simple solutions. This book reminds us of that wonderfully.

Well documented and researched

This book is a remarkable work of history. Cohen brings to light unknown facts about a key event in the history of the Palestine/Israel conflict. His is a view of the tragic history that is both critical, in the intellectual sense, and compassionate.

Essential reading for anyone who wishes to move beyond a partisan view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to understand the dilemmas of conflict historiography generally.

A study of the violent events of 1929 Mandate Palestine from both the Zionist and the Palestinian Arab sides; very well written.

This book presents a detailed and balanced account of an important event during the early years of the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is certainly an eye opener und forces the reader to view the issue from new angles.