Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-2001

1008 Pages·2001·5.7 MB·English

by  Benny Morris

Acclaim for Benny Morris’s

RIGHTEOUS VICTIMS

“A masterly account: detailed but always readable, authoritative but
strenuously objective.… If you want to understand the Arab-Israeli
conflict, rather than sound off about it, the book is essential.”
—Contemporary Review
“Crisply written, balanced and comprehensive, this is an indispensable
work of history.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Remarkably objective.… Compelling.”
—Financial Times (London)
“Morris does a wonderful job.… [He] describes Jewish-Arab relations
evenhandedly and in great detail.… Men like him, who can see things
from more than one perspective, are sorely needed to prepare the
ground for what will hopefully be a peaceful and relatively just
settlement of Jewish-Arab problems.” —Austin Chronicle
“Superb.… [Morris’s] narrative skill and meticulous attention to
historical detail as he shifts from one battleground to another make for
absorbing reading.” —National & Financial Post (Toronto)
“This comprehensive and balanced work is mandatory reading for
anyone interested in the long and bitter history of this conflict.”
—Booklist
B M
ENNY ORRIS
RIGHTEOUS VICTIMS
Benny Morris is Professor of History at Ben-Gurion University,
Beersheba, Israel, and is the author of a number of books on Middle
Eastern history, including The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem,
1947–1949.
A B M
LSO BY ENNY ORRIS
The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947–1949
1948 and After; Israel and the Palestinians
Israel’s Secret Wars: A History of Israel’s Intelligence Services
(with Ian Black)
The Roots of Appeasement:
The British Weekly Press and Nazi Germany During the 1930s
Israel’s Border Wars, 1949–1956:
Arab Infiltration, Israeli Retaliation and the Countdown to the Suez War

FIRST VINTAGE BOOKS EDITION, AUGUST 2001
Copyright © 1999, 2001 by Benny Morris
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.
Published in the United States of America by Vintage Books, a division of Random House,
Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited,
Toronto. Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a
division of Random House, Inc., New York, in 1999.
Vintage and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint
previously published material:
Random House, Inc. and Faber and Faber Ltd.: Excerpt from “September 1, 1939,” from
W. H. Auden: Collected Poems by W. H. Auden, edited by Edward Mendelson, copyright
© 1940 by W. H. Auden. Rights in the United Kingdom from The English Auden, edited
by Edward Mendelson, administered by Faber and Faber Ltd., London. Reprinted by
permission of Random House, Inc., and Faber and Faber Ltd.
University of Arkansas Press: Excerpts from Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President by
Jimmy Carter, copyright © 1982, 1995 by Jimmy Carter. Reprinted by permission of the
University of Arkansas Press.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the Knopf edition as follows:
Morris, Benny.
Righteous victims: a history of the Zionist-Arab conflict, 1881–2001 / by Benny Morris.
p. cm.
I. Arab-Israeli conflict. 2. Jewish-Arab relations—History—1917-1948. 3. Arab-Israeli
conflict—1993—Peace. I. Title
DS119.7.M657 1999
956—dc2l 98-42774
eISBN: 978-0-30778805-4
Author photograph © Elena Seibert
www.vintagebooks.com
v3.1_r1
For Jeff and Evelyn Abel,
Dubbie and Dvorka Harel,
Mike and Jana Robinson,
Yaron and Nadine Tsur,
With thanks
I and the public know
What all schoolchildren learn,
Those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return.
—W. H. AUDEN, “September 1, 1939”
CONTENTS
Cover
About the Author
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
Acknowledgments
Preface
Palestine on the Eve
ONE
The Beginning of the Conflict:
TWO
Jews and Arabs in Palestine, 1881–1914
World War I, the Balfour Declaration,
THREE
and the British Mandate
The Arabs Rebel
FOUR
World War II and the First
FIVE
Arab-Israeli War, 1939–49
1949–1956
SIX
The Six-Day War, 1967
SEVEN
The War of Attrition
EIGHT
The October War, 1973
NINE
The Israeli-Egyptian Peace, 1977–79
TEN
The Lebanon War, 1982–85
ELEVEN
The Intifada
TWELVE
Peace at Last?
THIRTEEN
Ehud Barak’s 19 Months
FOURTEEN
Conclusions