Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-1999 | Benny Morris

Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-1999 | Benny Morris | An objective history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

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Righteous Victims:...

	Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-1999 Benny Morris Knopf, 1999 - 768 pages average customer review:based on 39 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Righteous Victims, by the noted historian Benny Morris, is a comprehensive and
objective history of the long battle between Arabs and Jews for possession of a land they both call home. It appears at a most timely juncture, as the bloody and protracted struggle seems at last to be headed for resolution.

With great clarity of vision, Professor Morris finds the roots of this conflict in the deep religious, ethnic, and political differences between the Zionist immigrants and the native Arab population of Palestine. He describes the gradual influx of Jewish settlers, which was eventually fiercely resisted by the Arabs during the decades of British Mandatory government following World War I.

The establishment of the State of Israel in 1947 - 48 gave the Jews a homeland in the wake of the Holocaust, but the ensuing flight of the Palestinian Arabs shattered their society and led to the birth of a festering refugee problem. Morris describes these epic events and the Arab onslaught that followed, as he does each of the subsequent wars (in 1956, 1967, 1973, and 1982 - 85); the Intifada of 1987 - 91, when the Palestinian populace of the West Bank and Gaza Strip rebelled against Israeli rule; and the rise of fundamentalist religious movements on both sides of the barricades. Tracing the successes and failures of politicians, generals, and diplomats in both camps, he regards their actions and plight with accuracy and empathy, drawing on archival materials, memoirs, and secondary works to give a vivid account of each major military encounter--and of the vicissitudes of peace efforts from the post-1948 negotiations through the Camp David (1977 - 79), Oslo (1993 - 95), and Wye River Plantation (1998) accords. Mr. Morris offers sharply etched portraits and illuminating anecdotes about the charismatic leaders who have been the chief protagonists of this contentious history, including Theodor Herzl, Hajj Amin al-Husseini, David Ben-Gurion, Anwar Sadat, and Menachem Begin, to name only a few.

Righteous Victims ends with Mr. Morris's analysis of the current state of play, when the election of Ehud Barak as prime minister (May 1999) has opened the door to a renewal of negotiations between Israel and its Palestinian and Syrian neighbors. As the denizens of the Middle East set out to write the next chapter in this long and difficult struggle, Righteous Victims is essential reading: a monumental work of narration and explication for all who seek to understand the history of the conflict and the prospects for peace.

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An Excellent, Detailed History

An excellent, detailed history. After reading this book of 700 pages, I have compared it to Dershowitz, Finkelstein, Neumann and others, and have perceived this detailed account to be rather objective in this revisionist history in both sides of the issues where the conflict exists today. I found this book very helpful in understanding the early pre-state intentions and the 1948, 1967, attrition and 1973 wars. It would be hard to simply follow the status quo and deny the deplorable conditions of the Palestinians and Israeli treatment in human rights, economic, social and cultural controls, which includes the occupied territories, new settlements, appropriations of water and resources with its determined discriminations.

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An objective history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Benny Morris, the author of "Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-2001," has been counted as one of the Israeli "revisionist" historians, that group of Israelis that have debunked some of the myths that have surrounded the birth of Israel. In an earlier book, "The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-1949," Morris examined one such myth: that Palestinian Arabs left the nascent Israeli state in 1948 of their own volition or under the direction of their own leaders. Although that occurred in a small number of instances, there were many more cases in which the Israeli army drove Arabs out at gunpoint. Such revelations have not endeared him to many of his countrymen. In "Righteous Victims," first published in 1999, Morris also describes many instances of Arab antisemitism, venality, and brutality directed against Jewish settlements in Palestine. He provides many fascinating details in the early years of the interaction of the Zionist organization in Europe, British and French colonial policy, and the moribund Ottoman empire. For example, the Balfour Declaration of 1917 in which Great Britain promised the Jews of Palestine a national homeland was seen to be a completely self serving act by Britain to further its own military-political aims in World War I. This nearly 700 page book, as its title indicates, covers the entire history of the conflict from the origins of the Zionist movement including the birth of Israel and all of the subsequent Arab-Israeli wars as well as political considerations and attempts by Arab and Israeli leaders at achieving peace. Objectivity is Morris's aim, and he achieves it quite well.

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Best overall history of the conflict in one tome

I have read several works on the historical roots of the conflict, but this book is probably the best overall history in one work. Morris does pretty well at taking an even hand with his writing; although he probably could have shortened it by a couple hundred pages by leaving out some of the "breathless" play-by-play commentary of battle tactics in the various wars. Overall, it is well worth the time invested if you want a better understanding of the subject.

Remarkable work of history

Benny Morris rose to the forefront of Israel's 'New Historians' in the 1980's with the publication of 'Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem,' which provided radically new evidence which altered modern perceptions of the region forever. Morris retains his important findings in Righteous Victims and expands on them, covering virtually the entire history of the Israel-Palestine conflict. I found the earlier chapters leading up to the creation of the State of Israel on the earliest Zionist settlers to be particularly interesting; Morris presents a picture which indicates that the current bloodshed is by no means a product of natural necessity. The ethnic cleansing of Palestine and subsequent military occupation is the cause. However, Morris becomes overly ideological in the concluding sections of the book, allowing his harsh realist politics to creep in. Nevertheless, this is arguably the most comprehensive single volume about the history of the conflict.

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Broad, excellent overview, but will not please everyone

Like every treatment of the Arab Israeli conflict, this book will not please everyone (or anyone?). The book is brisk. Fortunately, Morris has an even tone throughout and does not remain fixed on any one subject for too long. As anyone knows who has written on a broad topic, this is an exceptional accomplishment. Even at 600 plus pages, this book could have easily gotten bogged along the way on the wealth of detail about this well researched conflict. And this book shows that despite some of Morris' more inflammatory interviews recently, he can still present a work of historical research that is even handed and fair.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

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