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Genesis 1948
This book tells the full story of the first Arab-Israeli war and the birth of the State of Israel. Based largely on some 1000 interviews with participants of all nations, it describes the important military and diplomatic events of that epic war - from the struggle between Truman and Dean Rusk to the fall of Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter; from the Irgun-Stern Gang massacre at Deir Yassin to the ambush of a Hadassah hospital convoy; from the clandestine operations of the Jewish underground in the US to the secret negotiations between Jordan's King Abdullah and Moshe Dayan. Here are anecdotes and glimpses of great figures such as Weizmann, Ben-Gurion, Dayan, Abba Eban, Abdullah, Glubb Pasha, Ralph Bunche, and Nasser, and of the ordinary people who did the fighting; concentration-camp survivors, Sabras, foreign volunteers, and Arabs from throughout the Middle East. Here are all the major and minor participants and events of the great conflict that set the stage for and is crucial to the understanding of the present-day Israeli nation.
804 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1970
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About the author
Dan Kurzman
19 books12 followersDan Halperin Kurzman was an American journalist and writer of military history books. He studied at the University of California in Berkeley, served in the United States Army from 1943 to 1946, and completed his studies at Berkeley with a Bachelor degree in political science. In the early 1950s, he worked in Europe and in Israel for American newspapers and news agencies and was then correspondent of the NBC News in Jerusalem.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 4, 2018
In this volume Dan Kurzman produces a comprehensive step-by-step, detailed account of Israel's 1948 War of Independence. Based on secret documents, and over 1000 interviews with participants, the study is scrupulously unbiased.
If the Jewish side comes off better, it is because of the Jewish respect for life which any objective observer will attest to, as opposed to the disregard of life by the Arab powers that be.
What is clearly and unavoidably revealed is the perfidious role of the British occupying forces who frequently arrested Jews they found with arms, but usually looked the other way when Arabs attacked Jews.
What I cannot understand is how the author is critical of the policy of the Lehi (the so-called Stern group) to resist the ruthless British occupation and the British alliance with the Arabs to prevent the rebirth of the Jewish State, as well as the British atrocities against Jews in the Palestine Mandate. The Lehi only killed British soldiers after the British had hung Jewish activists and often handed Jews over to bloodthirsty Arab mobs.
British deserters took part in the bloody Arab bombings of the Palestine Post and the Ben Yehuda Street terrorist attacks of 1947.
After the war had started the British attempted to drive the Jews out of Jaffa, leading to a battle between British tanks and Jewish soldiers.
The War of Independence was effectively a war by the fledgling state of Israel against 7 Arab armies AND Britain.
The United Nations, while voting for partition, refused to actually enforce partition after the Arabs attacked the fledgling Jewish State, and only intervened after Israel was en route to victory, exactly shat would happen 20 years later during the Six Day War.
Bevin had been determined that the Jews did not control the vast, desolate Negev, which he wanted for British bases.
After Israel was actually winning the war, the British, who had done so much to stop partition, suddenly thundered that unless the original United Nations terms were enforced, the UN should lift the embargo on the Arabs, isolate Israel economically and even blockade her.
Attlee and Bevin also put considerable pressure on Washington to act against Israel.
The diplomatic struggle is also covered, including the attempts by the American State Department for President Truman to reverse his support of partition, and how the revised plans by count Bernadotte essentially amounted to the strangling of Israel.
The book shows the reluctance of Transjordan to enter the war, but both Transjordan and Egypt were pushed into war with Israel by Britain.
The massacre by the Arabs of Jewish women and children in Kfar Etzion is detailed, making it very strange how Deir Yassin is always cited by anti-Israel polemicists while Kfar Etzion is forgotten.
It is quite astounding how the Arabs have been waging a war for decades to physically eliminate the Jewish presence in the Land of Israel, but continually howl about their own casualties.
Those who truly want peace and human rights should pressure the Arabs (and Iran) to live and let live and oppose the leftist-supported and Islamic-led global agenda that demonizes and wants ultimately to remove the Jewish state from the Middle East.
The book outlines the role of the key players in both the war and the diplomatic struggle such as David Ben-Gurion, Yigal Yadin, Yigal Allon, David Shaltiel, Count Bernadotte, Ralph Bunche, Clement Attlee, Harry Truman, Ernst Bevin, Mufti Haj amin Al-Husseini, King Abdullah, General Mohammed Neguib, Gamal Abdel Nasser. Abdullah Tel and Glubb Pasha.
This book is an extremely objective and non-ideological study, and is particulalrly important to read as it was written in 1970, before events were distorted by Leftist propagandists to fit in with the revisionist agenda of reversing the events of the history of the conflict.
If the Jewish side comes off better, it is because of the Jewish respect for life which any objective observer will attest to, as opposed to the disregard of life by the Arab powers that be.
What is clearly and unavoidably revealed is the perfidious role of the British occupying forces who frequently arrested Jews they found with arms, but usually looked the other way when Arabs attacked Jews.
What I cannot understand is how the author is critical of the policy of the Lehi (the so-called Stern group) to resist the ruthless British occupation and the British alliance with the Arabs to prevent the rebirth of the Jewish State, as well as the British atrocities against Jews in the Palestine Mandate. The Lehi only killed British soldiers after the British had hung Jewish activists and often handed Jews over to bloodthirsty Arab mobs.
British deserters took part in the bloody Arab bombings of the Palestine Post and the Ben Yehuda Street terrorist attacks of 1947.
After the war had started the British attempted to drive the Jews out of Jaffa, leading to a battle between British tanks and Jewish soldiers.
The War of Independence was effectively a war by the fledgling state of Israel against 7 Arab armies AND Britain.
The United Nations, while voting for partition, refused to actually enforce partition after the Arabs attacked the fledgling Jewish State, and only intervened after Israel was en route to victory, exactly shat would happen 20 years later during the Six Day War.
Bevin had been determined that the Jews did not control the vast, desolate Negev, which he wanted for British bases.
After Israel was actually winning the war, the British, who had done so much to stop partition, suddenly thundered that unless the original United Nations terms were enforced, the UN should lift the embargo on the Arabs, isolate Israel economically and even blockade her.
Attlee and Bevin also put considerable pressure on Washington to act against Israel.
The diplomatic struggle is also covered, including the attempts by the American State Department for President Truman to reverse his support of partition, and how the revised plans by count Bernadotte essentially amounted to the strangling of Israel.
The book shows the reluctance of Transjordan to enter the war, but both Transjordan and Egypt were pushed into war with Israel by Britain.
The massacre by the Arabs of Jewish women and children in Kfar Etzion is detailed, making it very strange how Deir Yassin is always cited by anti-Israel polemicists while Kfar Etzion is forgotten.
It is quite astounding how the Arabs have been waging a war for decades to physically eliminate the Jewish presence in the Land of Israel, but continually howl about their own casualties.
Those who truly want peace and human rights should pressure the Arabs (and Iran) to live and let live and oppose the leftist-supported and Islamic-led global agenda that demonizes and wants ultimately to remove the Jewish state from the Middle East.
The book outlines the role of the key players in both the war and the diplomatic struggle such as David Ben-Gurion, Yigal Yadin, Yigal Allon, David Shaltiel, Count Bernadotte, Ralph Bunche, Clement Attlee, Harry Truman, Ernst Bevin, Mufti Haj amin Al-Husseini, King Abdullah, General Mohammed Neguib, Gamal Abdel Nasser. Abdullah Tel and Glubb Pasha.
This book is an extremely objective and non-ideological study, and is particulalrly important to read as it was written in 1970, before events were distorted by Leftist propagandists to fit in with the revisionist agenda of reversing the events of the history of the conflict.
January 30, 2022
If i could give this book 0 stars i would. Based on pure fabrication of the truth, the book narrates the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in a biased manner. I have delved into this topic for decades, and always aim to look at different views, so in all honesty, this book shares a dissapointing and misleading view of the truth behind the massacres committed. I highly recommend "The ethnic cleansing of Palestine" , written by an Israeli intellectual and historian who speaks the unbiased truth in a simple manner, and in a way that many try to conceal from the public eye.
November 15, 2020
Actually, 3½ stars. This book is quite long, but nevertheless it is the best one I have read so far on the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Although Mr. Kurzman was perhaps not as concerned with the minutiae of each and every military engagement as Lt. Col. Netanel Lorch was in The Edge of the Sword: Israel's War of Independence 1947-1949, the present book not only provides a much wider view of all the relevant politico-military activities during the conflict, but is quite simply better written. Part of this is likely due to the fact that Dan Kurzman was a professional journalist. He had reported on Europe & the Middle East for various news organisations during the 1950s, before NBC News made him their resident correspondent in Jerusalem; he also covered foreign policy for The Washington Post during the 1960s. He apparently had a discerning eye for illustrative and/or amusing anecdotes as well. Lieutenant Colonel Lorch, on the other hand, was a professional soldier who later became a diplomat and historian. The two books reflect the difference between the authors; in my review of Lt. Col. Lorch's book, I pointed out that it "is, for all intents and purposes, a more-or-less official Israeli Defense Forces operational history of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War". Mr. Kurzman's book is a much more readable, journalistic account. Both are worth reading, but this one was the more enjoyable read. Besides, it includes one of my favourite stories (the one about the commemorative plates) about the late Dr. Ralph J. Bunche, an incident which took place while he was overseeing the Egypt-Israel armistice negotiations at Rhodes. Dr. Bunche was one of my heroes as a child, so I am always happy to read about him. The same is true of another one of my childhood heroes, the legendary photographer Robert Capa, who also makes a brief appearance in the narrative.
I have not yet had the chance to read the more recent book by Professor Benny Morris (1948: The First Arab-Israeli War); it will be interesting to see how it compares to the earlier two books...
I have not yet had the chance to read the more recent book by Professor Benny Morris (1948: The First Arab-Israeli War); it will be interesting to see how it compares to the earlier two books...
July 10, 2021
This is a thorough account of the events leading up to and during the war of 1948. Rather than a dry history, it includes actual comments and views of those who took part in the fighting. It's a must for anyone trying to understand that war.
Read
September 17, 2020Excellent book!
September 26, 2024
This drivel attempts to whitewash the crime of an ethnic cleansing operation,
regarded under international law today as a crime against humanity.
Included is an introduction by one of the executors of this ethnic cleansing of
Palestine, Yitzhak Rabin, then Israel’s prime minister - a war criminal.
regarded under international law today as a crime against humanity.
Included is an introduction by one of the executors of this ethnic cleansing of
Palestine, Yitzhak Rabin, then Israel’s prime minister - a war criminal.
October 19, 2025
Thorough study, intelligent, meticulously researched. Sensitive to each party's vision. The author separates facts and opinions in a masterly way. That gave me the chance to think and learn.
What a delight in this day and age where intelligent writing seems practically non existent.
What a delight in this day and age where intelligent writing seems practically non existent.
September 11, 2018
Well written, impartial, comprehensive, meticulously documented telling of the coming into being of the State of Israel, of the partitian plan set out by the United Nations, of the war between Israel and Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Syria, TransJordan, and the Arab League. Details the struggle on both sides to secure arms, of the bizzare role the British played attempting to maintain their Arab ties and allegiances, of the resolute determination and signficant sacrifices of life of the Israelis, of the infighting and intrigues of the Arabs (they are their own worst enemies) who initially put up a significant struggle notwithstanding their diverse ambitions, and of the wily cunning of the Israelis in ultimately securing what the partition plan had promised them, plus a bit more on account of Arab greed.
January 6, 2013
Bought a new copy to read again!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews