Customer Reviews

Between Hashemites and Zionists: The Struggle for Palestine, 1908-1988

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I have a good deal of familiarity with the Arabs, but not nearly enough.

I am a safety manager in construction and have worked some in the West Bank and visited shops in Israel. Further, I am married into a family with roots in the conflict. My wife's grandfather was a Lebanese, but employed in 1915 as Consul to Turkey by the country we now call Iran. Possessing diplomatic immunity, Rafiq Habib Jabbour helped Feisal escape the Turks to help lead the revolt written extensively by T.E. Lawrence.

Rafiq would later help lead a revolt against British occupation of Egypt. Upon release from prison Rafiq returned to Lebanon, then headed to Palestine to lead a revolt against the Brits. Shortly thereafter he was apparently poisoned.

Back to my main point. The prejudice within this book is apparent when the author so rudely dismisses the Arab revolt against the Turks and then goes on to show only the negative side of the Palestinian cause.

Having said that, I still did find much useful insight into the roots of the problem still haunting us all. That, my friends, is that there simply was a common bond, in times past, between wage-earning Palestinians and wage-earning Israelites.

Likewise, the businessmen (Israelite and Arab) were united against the working class due to a fear the world would be overtaken by Communism. Pity the wealthy class failed to recognize that belief in God precludes devotion to any earthly authority.