Efraim Karsh
Fabricating Israeli History
London F. Cass
Efraim Karsh, professor of Political Studies at Bar Ilan University (where he is also a senior research associate at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies) and a principal research fellow of the Middle East Forum, a Philadelphia based think tank, wrote an interesting book.
Israeli historiography is under assault by "new historians" exposing "Zionist narrative". This text takes issue with these "revisionists", arguing that they have ignored or misinterpreted much documentation in developing their analysis of Israel's history.
“Karsh (a professor of Mediterranean Studies at the University of London) presents the first full-length and detailed rebuttal to those Israeli scholars who call themselves the "new historians." This group, whose ranks include Ilan Pappé, and Avi Shlaim, seeks to expose Zionism as a rapacious movement and Israel as the actor that bears nearly full responsibility for the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Palestinian plight. Noting that others have critiqued the new historians' ignoring important source materials, Karsh concentrates on proving that "the very documentation used by these self-styled champions of `truth and morality' reveals a completely different picture from that which they have painted."
Elaborating on the argument first made in his June 1996 article in the Middle East Quarterly, Karsh focuses on three main issues: David Ben-Gurion's alleged endorsement of "transferring" Arabs out of the territory to become Israel, "collusion" between the Zionist movement and King `Abdallah of Jordan to snuff out a Palestinian state, and secret British support for this joint effort. To establish his case, Karsh digs deeply into the documentary record, even going so far as to interpret crossed-out sections in Ben-Gurion's handwritten letters. That's all vital to making his case, but Karsh's key strength is the application of unprejudiced common sense to clarify issues clouded by the pseudo-scholarship of propagandists”.
(Daniel Pipes, Middles East Forum Philadelphia)
Efraim Karsh
Palestine Betrayed
Yale University Press
Professore di storia e Direttore del Dipartimento Studi mediterranei nel King’s College di Londra Efraim Karsh è un esperto di Medio Oriente e autore di saggi importanti. Nella sua ultima opera lo storico offre un’ eccellente analisi sia delle origini sia della storia del conflitto arabo israeliano: un saggio imperdibile per conoscere la verità sugli avvenimenti che portarono alla nascita dello Stato di Israele.
In order to recreate the events of 1948, Karsh attempts to give a full picture and cites a wide variety of source material. His basic thesis is that Palestine was betrayed by a variety of powerful Arab individuals and institutions. People like Haj Al Husseini, who spent WWII in Berlin as a special guest of the Nazis and prepared plans to bring the 'final solution' to Palestine, were not prepared to arrive at any type of negotiated settlement with the Jews.
This book is the antidote to revisionist historians whose narrative casts the Palestinians as passive players in the conflict with no responsibility for their actions. At the same time, Karsh's work demonstrates that Palestinian mythology continues to hinder all attempts at solving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Any person who wants to gain a full picture of the events of those times must read this book. |
