O Jerusalem
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
O Jerusalem! (1972, ISBN 0-671-66241-4) is a book authored by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins, captures the events and struggles for creation of the state of Israel.
Contents |
[edit] Introduction
The book is the result of five years of research by the authors, which also included several thousand interviews, and examination of a series of publicly available documents and relevant materials. These became the basic materials for presenting the story of the birth of the modern state of Israel.
The book O Jerusalem! endeavors to present events from all the sides who were parties to the conflict and the events which are the subject matter of the book: the Jews, from the simple soldiers and rabbinical students to the commanders like Ben Gurion and Golda Meir; the Arabs; and the British.
[edit] Presentation
The book has forty-six chapters, grouped into four parts:
- Part One: A Time to Mourn and a Time to Dance has six chapters.
- Part Two: A House Against Itself has eleven chapters.
- Part Three: A City Besieged has thirteen chapters.
- Part Four: A City Divided has sixteen chapters.
The book begins with a Prologue, and ends with Epilogue, Index, and certain relevant information categorized under Biographical Note Acknowledgements, Bibliography, Chapter Notes, and Photograph credits.
[edit] Background Information
In 1917, during World War One, Britain defeated the Ottoman Turks and Palestine and Jordan were put under its control. Coming under official British mandate in 1922 by League of Nations approval, Britain improved crime management, education, and sanitation in Palestine. The Balfour Doctrine, named after British Prime Minister Arthur Balfour, promised that Britain would assist the Jewish people in building their state in the Middle East ("Balfour Doctrine," Britannica). However, Britain also promised to give the Palestinian Arabs independence in the Husayn-McMahon correspondence. Britain denounced the Husayn-McMahon correspondence with the Churchill White Paper, declaring Britain's favor of the Balfour Doctrine over the Husayn-McMahon correspondence. The 1930 Passfield White Paper reversed this policy with its pro-Hasyan-McMahon policy. The White Paper was met with outrage in the Jewish community and Britain quickly reverted its policies back to the 1922 Churchill White Paper. Arabs responded with a strike, followed by a revolt (lasting until 1939) in 1936. In 1939 Britain compromised by releasing the 1939 White Paper yielding to Arab demands. It promised the development of a Jewish home within an independent Palestine. Neither Jews nor Arabs were entirely in agreement with this White Paper. In 1944 the Jewish terrorist group Stern Gang murdered Lord Moyne, the British Minister of State, in Cairo. The assassination was the first act of Jewish violence in the conflict. After World War Two Britain asked the United Nations to solve the Zion-Arab conflict. On November 29, 1947 the UN voted to partition the Arab state of Palestine to include a Jewish state ("Palestine" Britannica).
[edit] Plot
The book begins immediately after the partition decision was announced. The Jews flooded the streets of Palestine, celebrating. However, the Jewish leaders immediately began planning for war. Ehud Avriel was sent to Prague to buy arms in the name of Ethiopia. Meanwhile, the Jews built an army and air force from scratch. The Jewish leaders, like David Ben-Gurion, knew that, due to military shortcomings, the conflict could only be won through intelligence warfare. The Arabs vowed to put Jerusalem under siege, and did. For many months Jerusalem survived on very limited foodstuffs.
On the Arab side, Captain Abdul-Aziz Kerine bought arms in Prague in the name of Syria, the only sovereign Arab nation at the time. The Arab countries (Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Transjordan) discussed their plan of action. They agreed to work together, but everyone, especially King Abdullah of Transjordan, had their own agenda. At the end of the mandate King Abudullah planned not to resist Israel, but to add the new, independent Palestine to Transjordan. In the end, lack of cooperation and organization was the Arab's ultimate downfall.
There was a lot of disorganization and non-cooperation on the Jewish side as well. The main Jewish army was the Haganah, however the aforementioned Stern Gang, Irgun, and Palmach were other Jewish militant groups. The four groups had conflicting ideals (for example: the Haganah was willing to internationalize Jerusalem in order to have a unified, peaceful state, but Jerusalem was of the utmost importance to the Stern Gang and the Irgun), but they managed to retain more organization and cooperation than the Arab armies. The Stern Gang and the Irgun massacred the Arab city of Deir Yassin, outraging Arabs and Jews alike. The Haganah denounced the massacre, but the Arabs believed the Haganah to be responsible and retaliated at the Jewish kibbutz of Kfar Etzion. As May 15 drew closer, the two peoples continued preparing for war. However, the Jewish intelligence learned that, although the mandate was set to expire on May 15, the British were planning to leave on May 14. Prepared for the early departure, the Haganah mobilized quickly and managed to capture many British buildings before the Arabs even realized that the British had left. Not privy to this intelligence, the Arab armies activated on May 15. The Jewish homeland of Israel was declared on Iyar 5 Hebrew, or May 14, 1948 Gregorian. Today, this day is celebrated as Yom Ha'atzmaut, or Israeli Independence Day ("Yom Ha'atzmaut" Wikipedia). After the expiration of the mandate, war befell Palestine and Israel. The Arab armies underestimated the Haganah's strength and were not prepared for a strong foe. Both the Arab and Jewish armies suffered major shortcomings in ammunition and manpower. The situation in Jerusalem worsened, leaving Jewish Jerusalemites to near starving. On June 11, 1948 a UN sanctioned cease-fire began. Jerusalem's starving were saved by a temporary end to the siege. Jerusalem's storerooms and stomachs were filled again. By cease-fire agreement neither army was allowed to re-arm itself, but the Haganah was able to buy arms through the black market. The Arab armies, however, were not. After four weeks, the fighting began again, followed by another cease-fire beginning on July 19 (July 17 in Jerusalem), 1948 (O Jerusalem! Collins).
[edit] Historical Value
O Jerusalem! is much more elaborate than most historical accounts on the subject. The authors spent five years interviewing, researching, and reading public documents in order to create an interesting, readable account of the birth of Israel and the lives and deaths of the countless, often nameless, people involved ("O Jerusalem" Wikipedia). This precise perspective gives justice to some of the most compelling factors of the conflict. Most historical accounts would not discuss the obstacle of Arab arrogance, or the bias of British soldiers towards Arabs. Perhaps the most compelling antagonism is the Orthodoxy of many Jewish residents. Their Orthodoxy caused them to refuse to fight, to prefer pacifism to Zionism, to refuse to work on the Shabbat, even in extreme circumstances, and to refuse to eat non-kosher foods, even in tremendous hunger. This story would have been much different if told from a different perspective. It has an apparent, but not direct, Zionist bias. Most of the narration is told from the Jewish perspective. In the rare event that an even is told from the Arab perspective, it usually puts them in a very bad light. Even the terrible account of Deir Yassin, the massacre of an Arab village, is told from a Jewish perspective, which causes decreased empathy towards the innocent Arabs of that village. If told from an Arab perspective, the book would have inspired much different empathies and conclusions, and would have had an Arab bias. In history, especially very detailed accounts, it is nearly impossible not to have a bias. The factors of the White Papers, perspective, accuracy, and details such as Arab arrogance, disorganization, and orthodoxy yield O Jerusalem! a book with a high historical value. It gives a precisely accurate and elaborate account of the end of the British mandate, the partition of Palestine, and the birth of Israel.
[edit] Film
The novel has been adapted as a foreign (to USA) film, O Jerusalem (tentatively "Beyond Friendship" for American audiences).
