#history
A Promise Made With Someone Else's House
How an idea born in Europe became a plan on paper. Herzl, the Basel congress of 1897, the first settlements, and the day in 1917 when one country promised a second country's land to a third group of people, in a letter sixty-seven words long.
Chapter 7
Deir Yassin, and the Emptied Cities
In April 1948 a village near Jerusalem was destroyed in a way that was meant to be heard about, and it was heard about. Within six weeks Tiberias, Haifa, Jaffa, Safed and Acre had emptied. This chapter does not soften what happened, because softening it is how it gets forgotten.
Chapter 8
The Armies That Came Too Late
On 14 May 1948 a state was declared, and the next day Arab armies crossed the border to save a Palestine that was already half gone. Behind the scenes a deal had already been cut. Then came Lydda, Ramla, and the long road in the July heat.
Chapter 1
The Land That Was Already Home
Before the story goes anywhere sad, you have to see what was there first. Palestine in the 1800s: villages, olive trees, Jaffa oranges, and neighbours of three religions who had shared the same streets for centuries. Nobody was waiting for anybody.
Chapter 4
The Revolt and the Iron Fist
For three years Palestinians rose up against British rule, and Britain crushed them with a thoroughness that is hard to read about. By 1939 the revolt was over, and Palestine had been left leaderless, disarmed and exhausted, exactly nine years before it would need to defend itself.
Chapter 6
The War Before the War
Between the UN vote and the day Israel declared itself, a whole war was fought that most history books skip. Bombs in Jaffa and Jerusalem, a plan called Dalet written on the tenth of March, and a commander who sold his grandfather's land to buy rifles.
Chapter 3
Twenty Years of Warnings Nobody Wanted
America sent a commission to ask Palestinians what they wanted. They answered clearly, the report was filed away, and nothing changed. From the British Mandate to the three young men hanged at Acre prison in 1930, this is the story of a country being warned and ignored.