Daniel Suhr: Filling in Israel’s three year gap

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, December 19th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Up next: a new urgency to the debate over the founding of Israel. WORLD opinions commentator Daniel Suhr reviews a book that seeks to provide clarity.

DANIEL SUHR: Histories of the Holy Land can be divided among four eras: the Hebrews of the Old Testament; the Romans of the New Testament; the Europeans and Muslims of the Crusades; and the Arabs and Israelis of the modern day. In his debut book, journalist Oren Kessler has filled an important gap early in the modern era. Palestine 1936–published earlier this year by Rowman & Littlefield–tells the story of the Great Revolt. That was the pivotal three-year period of civil unrest that shaped the battlefield for Israel’s war of independence in 1948, where most other accounts start.

Though Jews have lived in and near Jerusalem for millennia, the Zionist effort to return a critical mass to their ancient lands launched at the turn of the 20th century. Its success began with the Balfour Declaration of 1917, as the British government promised its support for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish ­people.” That pledge was sharply tested when Allied victory in World War I brought the end of the Ottoman Empire, which had previously ruled Palestine, and the League of Nations gave Britain control of the region.

By 1936 the British found themselves ­trying to suppress a full-on civil war between immigrant Jews and native Palestinian Arabs. Jewish new­comers brought an infusion of investment and energy, as they built Tel Aviv atop empty beaches and tamed the wilderness with collective farms known as “kibbutzim.” They also sparked a sharp reaction from Arabs who saw these improvements as a Jewish invasion. Suddenly the most innocent acts—like a soccer ball accidentally rolling down the wrong street—led to mob violence and brutal acts of revenge.

Kessler tells his story through the eyes of well-chosen key characters, some familiar and others newly highlighted by his book. Few if any are heroes, though several are obvious villains. All parties—Jewish, Arab, and British—bear some blame for the many deaths during this time.

At one point Kessler describes a royal commission report as “a policy paper both pragmatic and elegant, meticulous, and readable.” The same praise is due his book: It carefully and accessibly describes the opening acts of this pivotal period, and his introduction and conclusion helpfully show its meaning for the present. The history cannot be changed, but perhaps clarifying it can help heal its wounds and make progress toward peace today.

I’m Daniel Suhr.

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