Palestine: The Reality

by J.M.N. Jeffries

The Balfour Declaration of 1917 is a document that profoundly affected the Middle East. The Reality is an expertly researched inside story of the Declaration. It is also a vivid and personal account in which J.M.N. Jeffries exposes the real authors and progenitors of the Balfour Declaration, along with their personal stories, motives, conspiracies, and political aims. The author also details the other international players who were involved in the creation of the "Balfour" document, and offers a clearsighted perspective on the broken agreements with Britain's Arab allies that enabled the Declaration and dispossessed the Palestinian Arabs of their homeland.

Genres: History, Middle East

728 pages, Hardcover

First published December 31, 1939

Reviews

[Anne Cupero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my gosh, how are there no reviews for this book? Everyone needs to read this, at least everyone who thinks that the Mideast crisis and terrorism don't have roots in Western policy. This was a hard book to read, not because of the language, which is actually very interesting and thought-provoking, but because of the points made. I grew up thinking that the Jews were much maligned and deserved to live in Israel since it was "theirs." This book sets that record straight, with superb scholarship. This is no right-wing insanity, it is honesty about Zionism and how the policy of Zionism was dangerous to the balance of power in the world. The author also makes clear that so was colonialism, slavery, and many other ills, so it is not as if it is a rabid account of the righteousness of the Arab. In the final pages, the author makes a lovely analogy - that the Jews and the Diaspora IS their country, that they are like a pharmacy product which you add to many preparations, always the same, yet always different, and necessary in each preparation. I am not putting this as eloquently as the author did, but it was a beautiful thought. I came away from this book changed.

[Samer Darwiche · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeffries book 'Palestine: The Reality,' like 'The Awakening of the Arabs' by Antonius, is one which every informed student of the Near East in general, and of the Arab lands and the Zionist Movement in particular, must-read with utmost care. It deals with the intricacies of the Arab-Zionist problem from 1914 to 1938 in very considerable detail. From the beginning to the end of the book, the author makes his position absolutely clear. He is an opponent of Political Zionism; he believes that the Arabs have been very unjustly treated, and scathingly condemns the British Government's policy in Palestine.

Despite the controversial nature of his treatment, Jeffries thorough knowledge of the subject, his familiarity with many aspects, known previously only to an initiated few, and his extensive documentary evidence, compel respect and demands the critical attention of a wider circle of readers than the "specialists" in the field. His chapters on the Balfour Declaration reveal and throw much light upon the hitherto obscure political manoeuvres that led up to the historic Balfour Declaration of the British Foreign Secretary on Nov. 2nd 1917.