Efraim Karsh

The Arab-Israeli Conflict: The Palestine War 1948

A book to be treasured. It summarizes the conflict in an easy to read language and shatters the myths of the Palestinian (Arab) benevolence. It's a fine shorter version of the longer, and denser, "Oh Jerusalem" account. It does not overwhelm so much in detail but lets you see the picture more fully, from a little more distance. We see the military actions as well as the motivations and personal takes of the sides involved.

Reader-friendly and not sold to political correctness. It shed light for me on issues like the origin of the Palestinian refugee problem. Nothing better to clarify ideas than the very testimony of the Arabs involved. See what Palestinian intellectual Hisham Sharabi had to argue for his leaving the land in December 1947, in the middle of the fight (and leaving for the terrible US!): "There were others to fight on my behalf (...) they were peasants (whose) natural place was here, on this land. As for us -the educated ones- we were on a different plane. We were struggling on the intellectual front." So much for the Arab cause. There are more such jewels to read. Also:

"huge numbers of Palestinians were also driven out of their homes by their own leaders and/or by Arab military forces ... to prevent them from becoming citizens of the nascent Jewish State". Just wonderful. And: "Had the Jewish State lost the war, its territory would not have been handed over to the Palestinians but rather divided among forces, for the simple reason that none of the Arab regimes viewed the Palestinians as a distinct nation." This statement is backed inside. Read it and get the full scope.