1949: The First Israelis (English and Hebrew Edition) - Hardcover

Segev, Tom

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0029291801 ISBN 13: 9780029291801

Publisher: Free Press, 1986

Synopsis

Drawing on newly declassified documents, this behind-the-scenes story of Israel's first year as a sovereign state presents revelations about the attitudes and actions of the Jewish state-builders

About this title

Review:

First published in 1986 in Israel, Tom Segev's book excited controversy by suggesting that the founders of the Jewish state courted war in 1948 by refusing to negotiate in good faith with Jordan, Egypt, and Syria. Segev cites, for instance, the argument of finance minister David Horowitz that the West Bank should be annexed not to Israel but to Jordan, because the West Bank would be a financial burden on any power that occupied it and Jordan might therefore become dependent on Israel for assistance--and thus easy to manipulate politically. Segev also explores the ideological disagreements among Israel's founders, some of which are being revisited today in the clash between religious and secular politicians. --Gregory McNamee

From the Back Cover:

The founding of Israel in 1948 - one of the seminal events of the century - offers a dramatic narrative with few parallels in modern history. In 1949, a controversial best-seller in Israel, Tom Segev draws on thousands of declassified documents along with personal diaries and correspondence to reconstruct the unvarnished story of Israel's first years. Segev reveals the lofty aspirations that guided the state's leaders as well as the darker side of the Zionist utopia: the friction between the early settlers and the immigrants; the lack of good-faith negotiations with the Arabs; the clash between religious and secular factions; the daily collision of the Zionist myth with the severe realities of life in the new state.

About this edition

• Publisher: Free Press
• Publication date: 1986
• ISBN 10: 0029291801
• ISBN 13: 9780029291801
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 379