Decision on Palestine Deferred: America, Britain and Wartime Diplomacy, 1939-1945 (Israeli History, Politics, and Society) [Hardcover]

Monty Noam Penkower (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0714652687 | ISBN-13: 978-0714652689 | Publication Date: July 30, 2002 | Edition: annotated edition

Professor Penkower's latest book, Decision on Palestine Deferred, offers the first sustained, documented account of Palestine and the Anglo-American alliance during the Second World War. Firmly grounded in three decades of archival research, his spirited narrative offers a fascinating cast of characters against the backdrop of the larger Middle Eastern context. The latter relates to Jewish and Arab activities during the War, the grave threat of Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps, U.S. interest in Saudi Arabian oil, and the effort to achieve Arab unity. Zionism's shift to viewing the United States as the center of decision making in international affairs, and hence the Archimedean point for forging Jewry's destiny, occurred in these same six years. British anxieties about imperial security, while administering the Palestine mandate by means of a stringent immigration quota, jostled with the first American steps taken to formulate a stance vis-à-vis Palestine, and the region as a whole. The differing approaches of Churchill and Roosevelt to the Palestine imbroglio are also explored, as are the varied avenues that were then championed within the Jewish camp. The impact of the Holocaust, with both governments breathing the very spirit of defeatism and despair, surfaces throughout.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Decision on Palestine Deferred provides an invaluable contribution to Holocaust and World War II scholarship, as well as the history of the creation of the State of Israel. Whereas historians have tended to address each subject separately, Penkower details their important interrelationship.' - Middle East Quarterly

Product Details

• Hardcover: 392 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; annotated edition edition (July 30, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0714652687
• ISBN-13: 978-0714652689
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,442,748 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.