Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-1998 [Paperback]

 

 

Create your own review

This well written and organized book is an effort to provide a fair narrative history of the Zionist/Israeli-Arab/Palestinian conflicts. It is based largely on secondary sources and published documents and not on any extensive archival research. As pointed out by the author, the Israeli historian Benny Morris, there is considerably more documentation available for the Zionists/Israelis. Indeed, much of what Morris can tell us about the Arab/Palestinian side comes from Zionist/Israeli sources. Morris, however, interprets material carefully and this is generally an evenhanded book.
As can be seen from prior reviews, individual reviewer reactions are influenced by prior conceptions of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. I am impressed that much of the book is devoted to debunking Zionist mythology. Some examples. Many, if not all Zionist leaders, including most of the founders of the state of Israel, were aware that construction of a Zionist state would require dispossesion of the native Arab populations. The British Mandate was largely beneficial for the Zionists. In the wars of 1947-1948, the Zionists enjoyed significant advantages. While there is less written about the Arabs/Palestinians, several important themes emerge. Palestinian national consciousness is largely a result of the confrontation with Zionism. The Palestinians suffered from incredibly poor leadership. Some of the Palestinian problems, particularly their poor leadership, is a product of the fact that Palestinian society was essentially pre-modern in social and political organization. The Palestinians have been treated poorly by Arab states.
This book is particularly useful for episodes that Americans are unlikely to be familiar with. The 1973 war is described well, including the near victory of the Syrians in the north of Israel. The invasion and occupation of Lebanon, ultimately the only real defeat ever suffered by the Israeli armed forces, is very well described and analyzed.
While I think Morris is correct on broad outlines and is generally fair to both sides, I think he is wrong on some specific points. He suggests that Israeli decision makers misinterpreted Arab nation intentions prior to the 1967 war and that it was avoidable. Michael Oren's recent and very good book on this subject, published after the publication of Morris's book, emphasizes the aggressive intentions of the Arab states and the difficult but probably correct decision made by the Eshkol cabinet to initiate hostitilies. Similarly, Morris states that the US become unswervingly committed to Israel during the Kennedy administration. It is probably closer to the truth to see considerable deepening of the US commitment to Israel as a consequence of the great success in the 1967 war.
Overall, this is the best historical introduction to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and really useful for understanding the genesis of the present and very complex state of affairs.

After my recent return from an extremely biased and pro-Israel High School program in Hod Hasharon, Israel, Benny Morrison's Righteous Victims helped me create a more rounded view of the conflict. I am a liberal American Jew trying to figure out my stance on the issues; I am struggling between my connection with Judaism/ the land and human rights violations. The whole mess is very confusing, yet Morris makes an incredible attempt to clarify it. He is thorough in his historical accounts and has a writing style that allows the reader to keep intense interest.
As a Jew I feel like I have my own biases, so while I was reading, I found some of his. In describing the casualties of Six-Day War, he lists the numbers of Jews dead and Arabs killed. Just the differentiation in the verbs makes me think that he has some sort of message that he is trying to convey to his readers. Also, occasionally I felt like he went farther into depth about Palestinian casualties than he did for the Jewish ones. Acts of Palestinian terrorism are not described with the gore that is used to describe such instances as Deir Yassin or Sabra Shatilla. Regardless of the slight bias, this book is a wonderful way to learn the detailed and mangled history of the Zionist and Arab conflict.

The Israeli right has attacked this book but the truth is that it is a reasonably middle of the road account of Israeli history compared to more extreme pro-Palestinian works by others such as Finkelstein (Image and reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict). Morris would seem politically attuned to the outlook of Rabin and Barak but in recent years he has become more pessimistic about the possibility of peace settlement with the inhabitants of the disputed territories although he is not alone in that outlook.

Morris has been characterised as a revisionist historian. This reputation was gained with his earlier work The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee problem 1947-49 in which using recently released archival material he suggested that earlier Israeli accounts of the problem were not correct. Prior to Morris and others the official Israeli version of the refugee problem had been that the Arab inhabitants of Palestine had fled in response to calls by the invading Arab states in 1948. Morris was able to show this was a propaganda myth to justify the refusal of Israels policy in regard to the refugees.

This book is not so much a new study based on original work by Morris but it is a general history of Israel based on secondary sources. Naturally there is more material available now than when the first histories of Israel were written.

The book explodes a large number of myths that have been part of the propaganda war between Israel and its enemies. What he suggests that is new is as follows:

1. That the leaders of Israel aimed to set up a racially exclusive state. Prior to 1948 there were discussions about the need to transfer those Arabs who were to live in the new state.
2. That some of the groups who were involved in the creation of Israel such as the Irgun used terrorism to achieve their ends and introduced methods such as placing bombs in civilian areas.
3. That there were two wars of independence. The first war was a civil war fought against the Palesinian Arabs in 1947. This was crushed the Palestinians and was then followed by the 1948 war.
4. That the suggestion that Israel was embattled and won a war against great odds in 1948 was not accurate. Rather Israels forces outnumbered its opponents and they were supplied with equivalent weapons and thanks to an agreement with Czechoslovakia had a plentiful supply of ammunition. The Arab states by comparison were short of ammunition because of the arms embargo and their troops were poorly trained and poorly led.
5. The unprovoked attack by Israel on Egypt in 1956 had an effect in hardening the views of Arab states and contributed to the development of those states hard line to Israel.
6. The 1967 war was probably not a defensive war as Egypt did not intend to attack Israel. (As shown by captured documents)
7. That since 1973 Israel has had a military superiority over all the Arab states. In addition it has had nuclear weapons. Arab states were only able to attack Israel when the Soviet Union was able to continually re-supply them with weapons. The demise of the Soviet Union means that the Arabs are not able to mount an effective offensive war against Israel.
8. The first Intifada was a popular revolt, which has occurred in response to the brutal Israeli occupation.
9. That the rise of extreme Islamic movements those which are now supporting the second Intifadas suicide bombing campaigns have arisen as a response firstly to the invasion of Lebanon and secondly from the fist Intifada.

Whilst critical of some of Israels policy?s Morris is not blind to the short comings of the Arab governments and the nature of their regimes. He is also keenly aware of the fanaticism of the various terrorist groups now operating out of the West Bank and Gaza.

In fact Morris and Barak have been involved in a recent interchange with some of Clintons aids of articles in the New York Review of Books talking about the failure of the PLO to accept what would seem generous peace terms in 2000. He has indicated that peace will probably only be acceptable with a generational change in the PLO leadership.

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 27 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

 

4.0 out of 5 stars A Relatively Unbiased Depiction That Delves In Controversy
Commencing from the roots of zionism and continuing through the downward spiral of peaceful relations between the settlers (Jews) and the occupants (Palestinians), "Righteous... Read more

Published on Jun 8 2004 by Penny

1.0 out of 5 stars Better sources available
Morris' review is coloured in his attempt to provide equity between Palestinians and Israelis. Historically, the bottom line is that Israel absorbed almost 1 million Arab and... Read more

Published on April 13 2004 by S. McCrimmon

4.0 out of 5 stars Well Done
Morris manages to synthesize a vast quantity of information in this evenhanded and very readable history. Read more

Published on Jan 23 2004 by zabend

2.0 out of 5 stars liberal zionism
Any book on the Arab Israeli conflict that is not 100% pro- Israel is labeled as objective, critical and balanced in the US. Read more

Published on Feb 21 2003 by NIck

5.0 out of 5 stars Controversial in its conclusions...
Righteous Victims is a "revisionist" history of the Zionist-Arab conflict, so its conclusions spark terrific controversy (as you can see from the other reviews on Amazon.com! Read more

Published on Jan 13 2003 by Stephen Armstrong

5.0 out of 5 stars Passionately Objective  Excellent Book!
Reading this book radically changed my perspective on the Middle East and left me much better educated. Read more

Published on Dec 14 2002 by Cashew Son

5.0 out of 5 stars Analysis from an Israeli academic that is free of bias
Benny Morris is part of a group of Israeli academics often called the "new" historians, but what Morris examines in "Righteous Victims" is not new. Prof. Read more

Published on July 18 2002 by nukemind

5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensible, definitive, thorough
Regardless of your political leanings you will find this book the definitive source of historical detail which must inform the actions and opinions of all who are active in... Read more

Published on July 16 2002 by vcrs

5.0 out of 5 stars Excllent work, a must read
This a highly acclaimed book which has been based on declassified Israeli, Haganah, and Zionists documents written by the famous Israeli historian Benny Morris. Read more

Published on May 12 2002 by Abu al-Sous

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent source of history and objective
When I first read in the beginning of the book that almost all sources used were from Israeli documents--the reason was explained and seemed plausible, there are virtually no... Read more

Published on April 29 2002 by Deborah00

Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

› See all 27 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

Search Listmania!