From Coexistence to Conquest: International Law and the Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict 1891-1949From Coexistence to Conquest seeks to explain how the Arab-Israeli conflict developed by looking beyond strict legalism to the men behind the policies adopted by the Great Powers at the dawn of the twentieth century. It controversially argues that Zionism was adopted by the British Government in its 1917 Balfour Declaration primarily as an immigration device and that it can be traced back to the 1903 Royal Commission on Alien Immigration and the Alien’s Act 1905. The book contains the most detailed legal analysis of the 1915-6 Hussein-McMahon correspondence, as well as the Balfour Declaration, and takes a closer look at the travaux préparatoires that formed the British Mandate of Palestine. It places the violent reaction of the Palestine Arabs to mass Jewish immigration in the context of Zionism, highlighting the findings of several British commissions of inquiry which recommended that Britain abandon its policy. The book also revisits the controversies over the question of self-determination, and the partition of Palestine. The Chapter on the 1948 conflict seeks to update international lawyers on the scholarship of Israel’s ‘new’ historians and reproduces some of the horrific accounts of the atrocities that took place from newspaper reports, UN documents, and personal accounts, which saw the expulsion and exodus of almost an entire people from their homeland. The penultimate chapter argues that Israel was created through an act of conquest or subjugation. The book concludes with a sobering analysis of the conflict arguing that neither Jews nor Arabs were to blame for starting it. |
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Contents
AntiSemitism Colonialism and Zionism | 8 |
Palestine and the Scramble for the Middle East | 38 |
Arab Opposition to Political Zionism | 78 |
Copyright | |
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accepted according Africa agreement anti-Semitism Arab Arab Higher Committee Assembly authority Balfour Declaration become Britain British British Government Charter claim colonial Commission Committee concerned concluded Conference considered correspondence Council Court create December described Documents draft effect established existence fact force Foreign Foreign Office German Government Herzl History Ibid immigration included independent inhabitants interests International Law Israel Israeli Jerusalem Jewish Jews Journal July Justice land League of Nations letter London majority Mandate mandatory Middle East military Minister national home November occupied opinion original Oxford Palestine Palestinian Partition Partition Plan Peace persons political population Powers present principle problem proposed published question recognised referred refugees regard relations Reports resolution rule Security self-determination settlement sovereignty status supra note Syria territory Theodor Herzl Treaty United Nations University Press World York Zionists