Year Zero of the Arab-Israeli Conflict 1929In late summer 1929, a countrywide outbreak of Arab-Jewish-British violence transformed the political landscape of Palestine forever. In contrast with those who point to the wars of 1948 and 1967, historian Hillel Cohen marks these bloody events as year zero of the Arab-Israeli conflict that persists today. The murderous violence inflicted on Jews caused a fractious - and now traumatized - community of Zionists, non-Zionists, Ashkenazim, and Mizrachim to coalesce around a unified national consciousness arrayed against an implacable Arab enemy. While the Jews unified, Arabs came to grasp the national essence of the conflict, realizing that Jews of all stripes viewed the land as belonging to the Jewish people. Through memory and historiography, in a manner both associative and highly calculated, Cohen traces the horrific events of August 23 to September 1 in painstaking detail. He extends his geographic and chronological reach and uses a non-linear reconstruction of events to call for a thorough reconsideration of cause and effect. Sifting through Arab and Hebrew sources - many rarely, if ever, examined before - Cohen reflects on the attitudes and perceptions of Jews and Arabs who experienced the events and, most significantly, on the memories they bequeathed to later generations. The result is a multifaceted and revealing examination of a formative series of episodes that will intrigue historians, political scientists, and others interested in understanding the essence - and the very beginning - of what has been an intractable conflict. |
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al-Aqsa al-Haram al-Sharif al-Hussayni Alperstein Arab attacks August Aviv Avraham Bayit VeGan began Brit Shalom British Broza Bukharan quarter Chabad Christians city’s claim Commission 1930 country’s court Davar death defend Do’ar Hayom events of 1929 father force Gaza Ha’aretz Haganah Haifa Haim Hajj Amin Haredi Hebrew Hebron high commissioner Hinkis Hinkis’s Holy immigration inhabitants Islamic Israeli Jaffa Jerusalem Jewish community Jewish settlement Jews and Arabs killed Land of Israel later leaders lived Maghrebi Maklef massacre Meah She‘arim Mizrahi Mohammad Moshe mosque Motza mufti murder Muslim neighbors Ottoman Palestine Palestine’s Palestinian police policeman political prisoners Qalunya quoted Rabbi relations religious riots Safed Samrin Schneurson sentences Sephardi Shaw Commission Sheikh shouting side Slonim story Sur Baher Tel Aviv Temple Mount testimony tion told took Urfali victims village Weisel Western Wall wounded wrote yeshiva Yishuv Yitzhak Yosef Zion Zionist movement