1948 and After: Israel and the Palestinians (Clarendon Paperbacks) [Paperback]

Benny Morris (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0198279299 | ISBN-13: 978-0198279297 | Publication Date: May 19, 1994 | Edition: 2

These essays by a leading Israeli historian focus on Israeli decisions and the reasons behind the mass Arab exile from Palestine in 1948. Benny Morris addresses the transfer of Majdal's Arabs to Gaza in 1950, the initial absorption of the Palestinian refugees in Arab host countries in 1948-9, and why some Arabs remained in their villages. He then explores attitudes toward the Palestinian Arabs from the 1948 war to the differing perspectives of Israel's two main parties. By examining past and present Israeli historiography, Morris identifies and analyzes the major points of controversy between the "old" official Israeli histories and the "new" histories of the 1980s and beyond.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"For scholars interested in the Palestine of this period, this book should be considered must reading."--American Historical Review

"This is an impressive....sequel to Morris' earlier work, as its title indicates, but it is also much more. Every Israeli and every self-proclaimed Zionist should dare to read this book, and so should anyone concerned with how one human community can displace another or be displaced by it while the rest of the world looks on, or away."--Journal of Refugee Studies

"An excellent and highly recommendable work."--Middle East Studies Bulletin

"Morris not only writes history but makes it."--Orbis

"Benny Morris continues to enrich the field of knowledge encompassing Israel's violent origins....Readers...will welcome this additional opportunity to study the authoritative and richly detailed analysis and description from the pen of the pre-eminent researcher in the field."--Political Studies

About the Author

Former diplomatic correspondent of the Jerusalem Post

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 2 edition (May 19, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198279299
• ISBN-13: 978-0198279297
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,061,312 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant History, January 24, 2008

By 

Eric Maroney (Trumansburg, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 1948 and After: Israel and the Palestinians (Clarendon Paperbacks) (Paperback)

1948 and After is an addendum to Morris' famous The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem. Written a few years after that work, here Morris broadens that first historical inquiry, providing a response to his critics in the first essay, "The New Historiography: Israel and its Past," a cogent treatment of the trajectory of the writing of the State of Israel's history. Then Morris provides a series of essays on the Israeli Defense Forces Intelligence Analysis of the Arab Exodus, Yosef Weitz and the Transfer Committees, the flight of Haifa's Arabs, the harvest of Arab crops in 1948, the case of four Arab communities which were not deported/fled during the 1948 conflict, and particularly fascinating, an essay on the initial absorption of Palestinian refugees in Arab host countries; the work ends with an essay on the transfer of Al Majad's Arabs to Gaza in 1950. Like all of Morris' work, 1948 and After is well researched, documented, clearly written, and nuanced. For those who wish to write rigorous and fair history, Morris' work is a great model.

5 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice follow-up to Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, August 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: 1948 and After: Israel and the Palestinians (Hardcover)

This book, a series of somewhat related essays on the subject, has neither the impact nor the focus of the original work. It is a good book, however, and it fills in some interesting details.