Karl Sabbagh

Palestine: A Personal History

The Sabbagh family have a long history in the region of Palestine, and in this book Karl Sabbagh interleaves the history of his family with that of Palestine and the disputes between the occupants leading up to partition in 1947. Now there are two sides to every question and Sabbagh's account clearly takes one side. How much is this acceptable? Well, my feeling is that everyone has a right to tell their side of the story. On the other hand an author writing a historical account should try to be unbiased. So which is Sabbagh doing? The answer is: a bit of both.

In the first part of the book he is writing about the history of the area, and I constantly felt that his story was too one-sided. I think that Sabbagh, who has written a carefully considered account of a scientific fraud, could have done better in this case. For instance any society is likely to have a westernized component. For the Palestinian Arabs this is seen as a plus - they were perfectly able to run a modern state. However for the Jews the same 'modernity' was seen as a minus - they were interlopers in an Oriental country. I almost gave up reading the book at this point.

That would have been a pity, because when the book gets to events within the living memory of Sabbagh's family the tone changes. One reads the story of the many injustices which the Palestinian people have suffered - a story which is frequently hidden by the western media and deserves to be heard.

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Hardcover 366 pages
ISBN: 1843543443
Salesrank: 3254751
Weight:1.32 lbs

Published: 2006 Not Avail

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Hardcover 366 pages
ISBN: 1843543443
Salesrank: 71056
Weight:1.32 lbs

Published: 2006 Atlantic Books

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Hardcover 366 pages
ISBN: 1843543443
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Weight:1.32 lbs

Published: 2006 Atlantic Books

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Synopsis
From 3000 BC onwards, the area known today as Palestine has been successively controlled by Philistines, Jews, Romans, Arabs, Turks and the British. But for hundreds of years prior to the UN-mandated partition in 1947 and the creation of the state of Israel the majority of inhabitants were the ancestors of today's Arab Palestinians. In the thirty years (and three Arab-Israeli wars) that followed 700,000 Arabs were forced from their homes into refugee settlements on the West Bank, Gaza and further afield. Their desire to return to their homes on the land they feel is rightly theirs continues to create a political impasse. Karl Sabbagh was born to a British mother and a Palestinian father who was the lead broadcaster and war correspondent for the BBC Arabic service. When the war ended, Isa Khalil Sabbagh was sent to New York to cover the fateful UN vote of 1947. Karl Sabbagh's Palestine: A Personal History is an attempt to understand and come to terms with his father's, and his people's, turbulent past. It is also a panoramic political and cultural survey of Palestine which pinpoints psychological and religious barriers that have undermined two peoples' ability to create a lasting peace in the region.

Synopsis

From 3000 BC onwards, the area known today as Palestine has been successively controlled by Philistines, Jews, Romans, Arabs, Turks and the British. But for hundreds of years prior to the UN-mandated partition in 1947 and the creation of the state of Israel the majority of inhabitants were the ancestors of today's Arab Palestinians. In the thirty years (and three Arab-Israeli wars) that followed 700,000 Arabs were forced from their homes into refugee settlements on the West Bank, Gaza and further afield. Their desire to return to their homes on the land they feel is rightly theirs continues to create a political impasse. Karl Sabbagh was born to a British mother and a Palestinian father who was the lead broadcaster and war correspondent for the BBC Arabic service. When the war ended, Isa Khalil Sabbagh was sent to New York to cover the fateful UN vote of 1947. Karl Sabbagh's Palestine: A Personal History is an attempt to understand and come to terms with his father's, and his people's, turbulent past.

It is also a panoramic political and cultural survey of Palestine which pinpoints psychological and religious barriers that have undermined two peoples' ability to create a lasting peace in the region.

Not The Whole Truth ***
This is a very well written book by a very good author. The discussion of his own family history is especially well done. However, as is almost always the case when a Palestinian writes of the events leading to the 1948 partition of Palestine (and the founding of the State of Israel), Sabbagh is very selective in his presentation of the facts and what transpired. He always presents the Arab Palestinians as committing acts of violence against the Jews of Palestine in response to Jewish actions, and never accepts responsibility for the actions initiated by Arabs against the Jews. The most glaring omission is a total lack of reference to the 900,000 Jewish refugees from Arab and Muslim countries, people who were forced from their homes to a much greater degree than were the Palestinian Arabs. Jews were massacred in Iraq, Libya, Syria, and other Arab countries during the period of Sabbaghs narrative and most were forced to leave by abandoning all of their property. Virtually the entire Jewish population of the Middle East fled (between 1947 and 1968), with the majority taken in as citizens of the new State of Israel. Few Arab authors ever mention this, as it raises the question of why the Arab countries have kept the Palestinian Arabs in refugee camps to this very day in Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank. A more truthful account would raise questions like: Why is it to this day that a Palestinian Muslim (unlike any other Muslim) is not allowed to become a citizen of Saudi Arabia?

Not The Whole Truth ***

This is a very well written book by a very good author. The discussion of his own family history is especially well done. However, as is almost always the case when a Palestinian writes of the events leading to the 1948 partition of Palestine (and the founding of the State of Israel), Sabbagh is very selective in his presentation of the facts and what transpired. He always presents the Arab Palestinians as committing acts of violence against the Jews of Palestine in response to Jewish actions, and never accepts responsibility for the actions initiated by Arabs against the Jews.

The most glaring omission is a total lack of reference to the 900,000 Jewish refugees from Arab and Muslim countries, people who were forced from their homes to a much greater degree than were the Palestinian Arabs. Jews were massacred in Iraq, Libya, Syria, and other Arab countries during the period of Sabbaghs narrative and most were forced to leave by abandoning all of their property. Virtually the entire Jewish population of the Middle East fled (between 1947 and 1968), with the majority taken in as citizens of the new State of Israel. Few Arab authors ever mention this, as it raises the question of why the Arab countries have kept the Palestinian Arabs in refugee camps to this very day in Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank. A more truthful account would raise questions like: Why is it to this day that a Palestinian Muslim (unlike any other Muslim) is not allowed to become a citizen of Saudi Arabia?

Puts a Personal Face on Ordinary Palestinians *****
Too often, images of Palestinians in the West are dominated by suicide bombings and terrorist groups, and their cause is not presented in a way that could lead any person to sympathize with it. This book tells the story of the Palestinians you don't see on TV-the ordinary men, women, and children who were robbed of their land by an alien group whose ancestors had been gone from that land for 2000 years. Sabbagh refutes some commonly held-but very inacurate-beliefs, such as the idea that the name "Palestine" is a 20th century invention, and the idea that Palestine was uninhabited before the Israelis came-indeed, he tells the stories of the Arabs-including his own ancestors-who lived on the land for hundreds of years before Zionism was thought up. The history moves into the 20th century, relating the stories of Sabbagh's ancestors along with a history of British control of Palestine that reveals the injustice of the Zionist idea, and its proponents to be fanatical ideologues willing to use any means-even terrorism-to advance their ideas at the expense of the Palestinian population. The book culminates with the creation of Israel and the genocide (yes genocide) conducted by the new state to rid its territory of Arabs, a tragedy described in mornfull detail by Sabbagh. Read this book-your view of the Arab-Israeli conflict will never be the same.

Puts a Personal Face on Ordinary Palestinians *****

Too often, images of Palestinians in the West are dominated by suicide bombings and terrorist groups, and their cause is not presented in a way that could lead any person to sympathize with it. This book tells the story of the Palestinians you don't see on TV-the ordinary men, women, and children who were robbed of their land by an alien group whose ancestors had been gone from that land for 2000 years. Sabbagh refutes some commonly held-but very inacurate-beliefs, such as the idea that the name "Palestine" is a 20th century invention, and the idea that Palestine was uninhabited before the Israelis came-indeed, he tells the stories of the Arabs-including his own ancestors-who lived on the land for hundreds of years before Zionism was thought up. The history moves into the 20th century, relating the stories of Sabbagh's ancestors along with a history of British control of Palestine that reveals the injustice of the Zionist idea, and its proponents to be fanatical ideologues willing to use any means-even terrorism-to advance their ideas at the expense of the Palestinian population. The book culminates with the creation of Israel and the genocide (yes genocide) conducted by the new state to rid its territory of Arabs, a tragedy described in mornfull detail by Sabbagh. Read this book-your view of the Arab-Israeli conflict will never be the same.

So we are not the only civilised country in the world then? *****
A very enjoyable story of a country which I knew very little about. Basically it follows the history of a reasonably well off family who can trace their history back many years in this particular part of Palestine. Having a poor understanding of the politics of this area it has helped to provide a view of the other side. Whilst obviously written from one perspective it has given me a desire to partake of further reading from both sides before reaching any firm conclusions! Highly reccommended.

So we are not the only civilised country in the world then? *****

A very enjoyable story of a country which I knew very little about. Basically it follows the history of a reasonably well off family who can trace their history back many years in this particular part of Palestine. Having a poor understanding of the politics of this area it has helped to provide a view of the other side. Whilst obviously written from one perspective it has given me a desire to partake of further reading from both sides before reaching any firm conclusions!
Highly reccommended.