A History of Palestine: From the Ottoman Conquest to th…

In 1984 George Orwell writes, "Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past." This goes a long way toward explaining why, whether you are a governor revising your state's history textbooks, or a failed presidential candidate mounting another campaign, it is important to have a description of history that suits your purposes.

Nowhere is the historic narrative more contentious than in Palestine, and Gudrun Kramer realized the challenge of creating a non-partisan history of the area before authoring this book. By and large she has succeeded in that she has probably included items in this book that will enrage Israelis, Palestinians, and anybody else with an emotional stake in the historical and on-going conflicts in that area. She has combed through a lot of statistical records and describes circumstances that might compromise their accuracy. She does the same with many first-person accounts of the period. Unfortunately, the result is often a narrative as dry as the Negev, but I have to give her a lot of credit for undertaking this thankless task.

This is a scholarly, thoroughly researched history of Palestine for the period 1514-1949. It's a history that is complex, tangled and difficult to unravel. There are numerous contending forces involved, both local and international and all have differing and shifting points of view, objectives and strategies. It's complicated, serious stuff.

The writing is academic, factual, unbiased and rather dry. The book is brimming with facts and detail without a trace of fluff or filler. This is not a light read; it requires one's attention. That said, it's a work of history that is informative, rich in detail and interesting - in spades.

I chose this book because I wanted to better understand the roots of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinian Arabs. Having read it, I can say that the author has provided much more than I expected and done so in a neutral, academic style that is based on documented facts. I've learned a great deal from this book and I commend the author for this valuable work.

Dense, sober, and evenhanded account of the complex events in Palestine leading up to the creation of the state of Israel. It was born in blood and injustice, and the war that precipitated its formation is not yet resolved.

I was leaning more towards two stars on this because of the writing style, which tended more towards a dry presentation of the facts than drawing common threads between them. As this was the first book I have read on this period, I was hoping for a description of general themes. I gave the author the benefit of the doubt in my rating, because I did learn a great deal. Many of the facts surprised me. From what I can tell, there was relatively little religious tension in this region before the advent of European Zionism; in fact much less than there was in Europe. Initial resistance to Zionism was more of a nationalistic character than religious: Christians and Muslims banded together in alliances, and even many Arab Jews resented the influx of European Jews because they feared Bolshevism. If I had one wish for this book, I would wish that the author had gone into more depth about 18th century Palestine. She said that the population decreased by about 1/3 during this time because of the many wars, but did not describe these wars in any more detail than that.

While I have a lot to learn on this topic, this is one of the most helpful books I have read on the topic. Krämer looks more in-depth at the patterns of the Palestinian economy, Jewish settlement, and Jewish purchases of land than other sources that I have read, and the book seems to be fair to both sides.

Importante lectura para comprender la historia de Palestina. Por momentos puede ser aburrido o abrumador, debido a que el texto es bastante académico, pero la cantidad de datos e información presentada elevan la calidad. Como ya comentaban aquí en otra reseña, es curioso que los conflictos entre árabes musulmanes y cristianos, y los judíos se haya originado por cuestiones nacionalistas más que religiosas. Las últimas 30 páginas fueron lo más interesante: el preludio a la creación del Estado de Israel. Atrocidades cometidas en ambos lados y que, hasta el día de hoy, se siguen cometiendo.

Recomiendo la lectura para ayudar a comprender el tema.

This is a fantastically informative review of the history of Palestine leading up to the creation of the state of Israel. The most important thing to do when reading a history of this conflict is to focus on the facts, rather than how they are presented. There are lots of facts in here, and they are presented in a sensible timeline that really makes you feel like you understand the progression of various forces. Like every history, this one is presented in a biased way (in favor of the Palestinians in this case), though not egregiously so. The author is critical of the Arab leadership, though she saves her strongest words and incredulity for the Jews. In order to navigate this conflict, one must read many histories and synthesize them on one’s own. This is one such history, and it’s an excellent one to bring into the fold of one’s understanding. It’s a dense book, so make sure you have the time and space to absorb it.

Excellent! The best exposition of the history of the Palestinian issue that I've read to date. Well documented and dispassionate in-depth analysis. Very readable even if a bit dry. But that's the price you pay for the lack of sensationalism.

An extremely well documented book about history that I knew little of. It is a rather academic type history book—objective, documented facts. Yet the language is not overly complex or inaccessible. And the telling of the history does not seem to be overly biased. I chose this book as it seems to be one of few histories of the founding of the state of Israel that is not told exclusively from a Jewish perspective. The text seems to present an objective view including both Arab and Jewish motivations and happenings.
At first I thought that the organization was going to be too complex to follow, but it turned out to be a good structure that helped me make sense of a complex and previously unknown situation.
I am still marveling at dynamic population changes in the area of Palestine from before WWI through the end of WWII.
I'm not sure I would call it a compelling read, but with a little innate curiosity about the region and history, it didn't lull me to sleep.

Un libro imprescindible para comprender los orígenes de un conflicto que continúa siendo tan actual.
Pese a ser por momentos un relato denso (ya que no es un ensayo como tal, sino más bien un libro académico de historia, con multitud de datos, fechas y nombres), es en su conjunto una obra muy relevante, perfecto preludio a otros libros que se centran más en los conflictos posteriores a la creación del Estado de Israel y/o los episodios de violencia de las últimas décadas.

Guter Überblick über die Geschichte Palästinas vom späten Osmanischen Reich bis zur Staatsgründung Israels. Die Betrachtung ist umfassend und nimmt politische, wirtschaftliche, demographische Entwicklungen in den Blick sowie die beginnenden (und bald eskalierenden) Konflikte zwischen arabischer und jüdischer Bevölkerung. Krämer ist dabei ausgewogen und gibt damit einen guten Einblick in Ursprünge und Hintergründe des (anhaltenden) Konflikts.

I feel like you really have to have some background knowledge to understand/get a lot out of this book. I wouldn’t recommend it for someone like me, who has very little knowledge of the history/geography/political climate of the near/middle east and just wants to learn a little history of Israel and Palestine.

Read for Class
I actually enjoyed this book! It was informative and full of sources. I think it was in-depth and did a good job at remaining mostly impartial, provided a good starting point for people who lack a background in this history.

Muy buen repaso a la historia de Palestina. Cuenta con precisión y ecuanimidad la cadena de sucesos hasta llegar al momento actual y la naturaleza colonial del conflicto.

I read this book because I wanted to understand the roots of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, and I finally found the answers to my questions in the last third of the book. The first few chapters helped me recognize the disproportionate weight given to the Jews' biblical claims to the land when measured against those of the Arabs. What I found less interesting, however, was the center bulk of the book, which focused on the makeup and administration of Ottoman-era Palestine. While it appeared to be based on solid research, to me it didn't as relevant to the current crisis, and therefore less interesting. I would have rather read just excerpts from "A History of Palestine." By the way, Graham Harman is the translator. The author of the book is Gudrun Kramer.

Good background covering the period from 1900 to the War of 1948. Pretty balanced considering there is still little or no access to Arab records of the times. Illustrates the dismal state of any kind of Arab unity and the focus of the Jews on their goal. I liked the dissection of the analogy of David vs Goliath. It was more like David against a bunch of smaller and less organized Davids. The book also shows how Arab denial of reality really goes back a long way. The author also touches on how myth building on both sides has stood in the way of any kind of solution.

A little dry and academic, but I now have a much greater understanding of the region. Groups on all sides of the present day conflicts have many reasons to feel like they have gotten the shaft.

Easy to read, detailed and interesting.
I liked the impartial tone of the book in particular.