Weathered by Miracles: A History of Palestine from Bonaparte and Muhammad Ali to Ben-Gurion and the Mufti [Paperback]

Thomas A. Idinopulos (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 24, 1999

Canaan, Land of Israel, the Holy Land, Bibleland—Palestine. Many names for a small speck of earth, no bigger than Wales or Massachusetts. This land has suffered most of the world’s conquerors, from the Babylonians to the British, only to brighten its aura of sanctity for millions of Muslims, Christians, and Jews to the present day. In Weathered by Miracles, Thomas Idinopulos tells the story of that one explosive moment in Palestine’s long history that began with Napoleon’s invasion of the Middle East in 1798 and concluded with the founding of the Jewish state of Israel in 1948. Here was the dramatic confrontation of world empires for possession and profit, the clash of Islam with the Christian West, and the pioneering zeal of explorers and excavators, diplomats, merchants, and missionaries. Here were the last days of Turkish and European imperialisms and the first breaths of Arab and Jewish nationalisms. Concentrating on the fateful ties between politics and religion, Mr. Idinopulos describes the extraordinary transformation of Palestine from wasteland to a dynamic country, and traces the origin of the violence that continues today between Arabs and Jews.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Though the current religious conflicts in Israel can be traced back two millennium, the past 150 years have certainly determined the current political reality. Beginning with Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion of Egypt in 1798 and extending to the birth of modern Israel in 1948, Weathered by Miracles is a concise and uncommonly balanced history of one the world's most complex regions.

In a sense, Napoleon could be blamed for this mess. Though his bid for control of the region was thwarted at the Palestinian town of Acre in 1799, his attempt opened a channel between the East and West that had been largely cut off since the Crusades of the 12th and 13th centuries. The British came to the aid of the Ottomans to halt Napoleon, and in doing so, entrenched themselves in Palestine, a move that would have long reaching political and nationalistic consequences.

A second invasion of Palestine, this time successful, further cemented a connection with the West. In 1831, Egyptian viceroy Muhammad Ali conquered Palestine, drawing Russia, Britain, and France into a delicate power play with the eroding Ottoman Empire. He also encouraged foreign investment to raise needed revenue, and he drastically altered the culture by granting Christians, Jews, and other non-Muslims the same protections under the law. Though Ali was soon driven out, his policies remained, and the creation of a British vice-consulate in Jerusalem in 1838 (followed soon after by consulates from other nations) signaled the beginning of substantial Western political influence within Palestine, a shift that would manifest itself most vividly in coming decades when Britain began to encourage a Jewish national homeland in Palestine, and Zionism took firm root. As a result, Palestinians and neighboring Arabs began to view the West with suspicion and hatred--sentiments that were soon transferred to the incoming Jews.

The history of Palestine is a complicated mix of nationalistic, religious, and political aspirations by numerous competing factions, and Idinopulos chronicles this explosive period with admirable clarity and a colorful eye for detail. "Its smallness mocks the enormity of the ambitions that collided there," he writes. If both sides are ever able to make peace, it would be a miracle indeed. --Shawn Carkonen --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Idinopulos (religious studies, Miami Univ.; Jerusalem Blessed, Jerusalem Cursed, LJ 11/15/91) claims that it was Napoleon's 1798 thrust into the Middle East that opened the eyes of the European powers to the possibilities inherent in these lands. During the 19th century, the Holy Land was often thought of as a sleepy tourist site, but many modern ideas were incubating there. In 1920 the British were given the international mandate to govern Palestine as a trust and not a colony. Nevertheless, Idinopulos writes, "Ultimately Britain's self-centered policy in Palestine was a moral failure." The author raises many questions as he seeks to provide a relatively balanced account of the 20th-century transformation of Palestine into an area simmering with modern ideas and tensions. This work bears comparison with Christopher Sykes's Crossroads to Israel (1965), an older study that examines the historic British role in the Mideast more sympathetically. Informed lay readers will appreciate Idinopulos's book as well. Recommended for public libraries seeking to beef up their Mideast history sections.?Paul M. Kaplan, Lake Villa District Lib., IL
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 299 pages
• Publisher: Ivan R. Dee (August 24, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566632692
• ISBN-13: 978-1566632690
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 0.7 x 8.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,365,553 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

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

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Some missing pieces December 12, 2001

By Alyssa A. Lappen TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

This book adds to information provided in other exceedingly well-documented books on the same period--including Arieh Avneri's Claim of Dispossession: Jewish Land Settlement 1878-1948 and Joan Peters' From Time Immemorial.

It too cites numerous British census, agricultural, statistical and other reports, and the writings of C.F. Volney, Mark Twain, Edward Robinson (1841) and British consul James Finn (1878). But Idinopulos also turns to other primary and secondary sources, including the 1854-59 German writings (still untranslated) of Ulrich Seetzen, who traveled the Middle East disguised as an Arab.

In the earliest chapters, Idinopulos confirms an important conclusion of Avneri and Peters--that a large Arab migration into Palestine followed the Jewish immigration that began in about 1870. He also notes that thousands of Jews previously lived in the land, and that Palestine was otherwise largely, though not completely, desolate. More than two thirds of the land west of the Jordan River was desert and swamp, including much of the coastal Sharon plain and the interior. Less than a third of it was fertile. Except for a few wealthy landed Muslim families, inhabitants were unlanded and conditions terrible.
Travelers were routinely attacked by Bedouin thieves. The Ottomans overtaxed everyone, adding for Jews and Christians special dhimmi "protection" taxes." Epidemics of Bubonic Plague, malaria and cholera were common.

Idinopulos, however, did not consult the rich Turkish, Jordanian, Egyptian, Russian or other sources used by Efraim and Inari Karsh in Empires of the Sand. That major drawback naturally limits and skews some conclusions....

For example, his map of the Palestine Mandate does not show land east of the Jordan River, although the Mandate included all of current-day Jordan, which Britain unilaterally ceded to the Emir Abdullah in 1922. Idinopulos breezes through this point, attributing its sole importance to political relations between the left-wing labor Zionists and right-wing Revisionists. Its significance was far greater than that.

In an unfootnoted passage, he also reports that in correspondence with King Faisal, Britain's Henry McMahon promised the Arabs domination over Palestine. This is the Arab view, adopted years after the 1915 correspondence.

Efraim and Inari Karsh and David Fromkin give a sharply different picture: McMahon felt he gave no such assurance, and the Karshes substantially document that Faisal knew it. Isaiah Friedman supports them, with translations of the original correspondence, in Palestine: A Twice Promised Land? Among the strongest evidence is Faisal's signature on a 1919 treaty with Chaim Weizman--agreeing that Palestine, including Jordan, was to be a national home for the Jews. Idinopulos omits that important treaty from his history.

We do learn that the Jewish people acquired land by legitimate purchases, often at above-market prices and that Arabs who complained of Jewish immigration "in the darkness of night were selling land to the Jews." British refusal to invest exacerbated problems, just as Ottoman tax laws had done. But while Zionist-induced prosperity increased the Arab population markedly, Arab violence also increased. Intense Arab inter-factional fighting was in part encouraged by Britain, by empowering Jerusalem Mufti Hajj Amin el-Husseini, had given power to the most uncompromising and divisive of Arab forces.

In 1937, the Peel Commission recommended a partition and population transfers like those that had occurred with the Greeks and Turks after their 1922 war. The Arabs rejected the plan because it allowed for a Jewish state, and in 1939, Britain attempted to appease the Arabs by cutting off Jewish immigration.

The early chapters are worth reading for the fine writing and detail. Overall, beware of the errors and glaring omissions. Alyssa A. Lappen Read more ›