How Israel Was Won: A Concise History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict [Paperback]

Baylis Thomas (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0739100645 | ISBN-13: 978-0739100646 | Publication Date: June 17, 1999

This is the only book you'll ever need in order to comprehend the complexities of the Middle East.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Psychologist Thomas has adopted the Israeli revisionist interpretation of the Arab-Israeli conflict currently in vogue and fashioned an interesting "history" of events, from early Zionism through the current peace process. He argues that because of what he calls "the Holocaust syndrome"Athat is, sympathy for the plight of European JewryAIsraeli policy has been given too favorable a spin. Thomas claims to pierce the veil of myth surrounding the traditionally popular pro-Israeli stance on the Arab-Israeli conflict, but he draws primarily on secondary sources and frequently makes unsupported assertions. While offering an interesting perspective for both the casual reader and the specialist, this account should be read against Efraim Karsh's Fabricating Israeli History: The "New Historians" (Intl. Specialized Bk. Svcs., 1997).ASanford R. Silverburg, Catawba Coll., Salisbury, NC
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Review

A well-documented, well-written, and persuasive account that mobilizes knowledge not readily available to the non-expert. . . . It is sprinkled with claims and explanations that are new and fascinating. . . . How Israel Was Won has an excellent chance of being widely read and prominently reviewed. (Ian Lustick )

This book demythologizes Arab-Israeli history while grounding its interpretations in fact. It is a timely work. (Davidson, Lawrence )

A remarkable, stimulating, and balanced analysis of the Arab-Israeli conflict from its origin in the 19th century to the contemporary Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. . . . This book deserves a wide readership. (Choice )

Baylis Thomas' concise history synthesizes for the general reader the vast number of historical studies and recently declassified documents from the United States and Israel to create an interpretation of this conflict. (Shofar, Summer 2000, Vol.18, No.14 )

For the interested reader wanting a single sourcebook on the rise and expansion of Israel... this one delives the goods with well-organized and clearly presented material backed up by all the documentation one could ask for. (Middle East Policy )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Lexington Books (June 17, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0739100645
• ISBN-13: 978-0739100646
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #983,491 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars emotional issue, March 4, 2005

By 

Anonymous "Anonymous" (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How Israel Was Won: A Concise History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict (Paperback)

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a highly polarizing, emotional issue. This is reflected in the highly polarized customer reviews of this book: clustered around one- and five-star reviews. The American public and the media are highly sympathetic to the Israelis--U.S. politicians are terrified to be on the wrong side--whereas the European public is more sympathetic to the Palestinian plight. This polarization has been fueled by the Holocaust and 9/11, the latter monolithically casting all Muslims as anti-Semitic, anti-American terrorist thugs. These painful events color emotions despite their displacement in time and place from a conflict between the Zionists and Palestinians that began many decades before.

It is a shame that a very good book recounting what historians (as opposed to the public) have said about this conflict has been mauled by personal identifications and sympathies--as though "unbalance" must be a feature of the book and not its readers. Serious academics have been impressed by this book. For example, the Association of College and Research Libraries (CHOICE) judged it to be an "outstanding academic work in the year 2000". The book does illustrate how an historically victimized people, the Jews, have, in their rising up, victimized another (not necessaril blameless) people, the Palestinians--perhaps analogous to how religiously persecuted Europeans, seeking liberation, victimized the resisting native Americans threatening to obstruct a providential colonization. No surprise; it is the way of the world. Virtually all modern states have the same history. This book, based on American and Israeli scholarship, simply tells how it was done, not whether it should have been done.

40 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Very disappointing attempt at a balanced view, July 2, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: How Israel Was Won: A Concise History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict (Paperback)

I picked up this book hoping to learn more about a subject of which I have very little understanding, but about which we all hear about on a daily basis on the news. I like to think that I came to the topic with very little bias, other than the semi-conscious bias that most westerners probably in viewing Israel as a bastion of western culture surrounded by arab muslim cultures.

I should say that I am glad I read this book. It gave a good background to the inception of Israel and the interworking of the mid 20th century colonial powers in the region. It also made it clear that Israel has frequently been the powerful aggressor in many instances, rather than a hopelessly outnumbered, embattled outpost. The Palestinians clearly have many legitimate grievances, and whatever anyone says about who is right and wrong in these things none of it can change the following historical fact: that Palestine/Israel started out as a small area in which Arabs were in a minority, Israel now occupies a much larger territory, has an overwhelmingly Jewish population, and a very large number of the Arabs who used to live there do not any more.

Other than giving me the above insights, the book was both disappointing and annoying. First, it is very poor history, and the fact that the author is a PSYCHOLOGIST, and that the book was "the product of research done in the context of a professional writing group that INCLUDED three history professors" should be a red flag to anyone looking for a proper historical analysis. I don't know how anyone can say it was well researched; based on the notes a huge proportion of the research was done based on three or four other books on the subject. For example in the Chapter on the Suez conflict, of 56 source notes, 38 go back to two books (Spiegel's, The Other Arab-Israeli Conflict, and Sachar's, A History of Israel). Virtually no primary source materials are used, and the book is full of judgmental quotes or quotations regarding the views of various statesmen, but they are really just passages from other history books, rather than statements attributable directly to players in the events. All very disappointing.

The annoying part is that as your read the book, the veneer of balance drops away, and it gradually becomes an "Israel bad, Palestinians/Arabs good" polemic disguised as history. I first clued into this when the author made special note of the fact that Israel's 1950 Law of Return providing worldwide Jewry with the right of abode in Israel Violates the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial discrimination. Taking into account that the convention was adopted 19 years later in 1969, and that no comparatives are given for any other country's compliance with the same convention, it is simply an idiotic thing to point out.

As the book progresses (or perhaps I just became more sensitive), it becomes more and more obvious Begin is described as a "terrorist" whereas Arafat is the head of a "guerrilla organization". The public statements made by Arabs are all taken at face value whereas those made by Israeli leaders are all exposed as lies. Syria has 35,000 troops in Lebanon, but was seeking a policy of trying to "preserve a military balance and political stability" in the country, whereas the Israelis were raping and pillaging for their own benefit. Lyndon Johnosn is "hair trigger". One Israeli leader is a "loose cannon". Etc. etc.

This is not to refute all of these views or the many terrible acts and policies attributed to the Israelis, only to say that the book's validity as a decent work of history is fatally compromised by such blatant one-sidedness.

In the end, while I am glad to have read the book, I would not recommend it.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One-sided account of world's most perplexing issue, October 29, 2001

By 

M. Swinney "Marc My Words" (Flower Mound, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: How Israel Was Won: A Concise History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict (Paperback)

This book by Baylis Thomas is an insightful read. As far as history goes the narrative is engaging and the concise style holds the readers attention throughout. For the writing alone, I would give this book 5-stars. What holds it back though, is the singular presentation of facts towards a somewhat biased look weighing on behalf of the Palestinians. For this reason I downgraded the book to 4-stars.

If you are looking to gain more insight into the Israeli conundrum, which in these day and time is of utmost importance, go get this book. However you will need an accompanying book to get both sides of the story. Thomas hones in on the injustices enacted against the Palestinians without ever presenting the Jewish perspective. For controversial issues, there are two sides to every story. With this book there largely seems to be just one.

Thomas has the original thesis that he terms, "the nazi syndrome" that allowed a certain environment to exist in which certain injustices could be justified to allow the Jewish nation to be created at the expense of the Palestinians. The Nazi syndrome briefly explained is that the Jewish people were victimized at the hands of Nazi Germany and carried that victimization with them, as well as in the eyes of world policy, to carve out modern-day Israel at grave injustices to the people of Palestine. There is credibility to this notion and no doubt modern country's world policy has been misdirected towards the Israeli problem, but one should seek to gain a complete understanding of both sides before rushing to condemnation. That's what you don't get with Thomas' book...both sides of the story.

"How Israel Was Won" draws parallels to the Monroe doctrine of westward expansion in the states and the analogy is made to "how the West Was Won." In doing so, Baylis Thomas gives a fascinating rendering of all the facts and history surrounding the creation of modern day Israel, but don't buy this as the complete picture.