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University of California Press

About the Book

Here is a brief, intelligent, even-handed analytical account of the origins of the Arab-Zionist conflict and its development from early in the twentieth century until 1948, focusing particularly on the period when Britain ruled Palestine under mandate from the League of Nations.

About the Author

Michael J. Cohen is Professor of History at Bar-Ilan University, Israel. His most recent book is Churchill and the Jews.

Table of Contents

List of Maps 
List of Documents 
Preface 

CHAPTER ONE
Arab Nationalism and British Promises of Independence During World War I
Intellectual and Political Developments Before 1914 
Husayn and the Arab National Movement 
The Husayn-McMahon Correspondence, July 1915--January 1916 
The British Promise, 24 October 1915 
A Summary Evaluation of the Correspondence 

CHAPTER TWO
Zionism and the Balfour Declaration 
Emancipation and Anti-Semitism 
Political Zionism 
The Balfour Declaration 
The Drafting and Significance of the Declaration 
The Balfour Declaration Assessed, and Compared with the Husayn-McMahon Correspondence 

CHAPTER THREE
Mandatory Problems, 1920-1945
Britain's Middle Eastern Empire 
Britain's Quest for Legitimacy 
The Palestinian Arabs: Political and Socioeconomic Upheaval 
The Zionists' Progress 
Crossroads in the 1930s 
The Arab Rebellion 
The 1939 White Paper and World War II 

CHAPTER FOUR
From Mandate to Independence, 1945-1948
The Power Vacuum in 1945 
The Search for an Anglo-American Consensus 
Zionist Rebellion 
Arab Disarray 
The British Decision to Surrender the Mandate 
The UN Partition Resolution, November 1947 
The Establishment of the State of Israel 

Documents 
Glossary
Suggested Reading 
Index