Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict

by Oren Kessler

Winner, 2024 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature
One of the Wall Street Journal’s 10 Best Books of 2023
A Booklist Best Book of the Year (Editor's Choice), 2023
Finalist, National Jewish Book Awards, Writing Based on Archival Material
Finalist, Sophie Brody Medal, American Library Association

“Want to understand the roots of the Middle East conflict? Read this book.” —
Haaretz

“Kessler’s history is key to understanding the current situation between Israelis and Palestinians.” — Booklist

“[Kessler] has done an exceptional job and opened new vistas on troubles past and present.” — Wall Street Journal

A gripping, profoundly human, yet even-handed narrative of the origins of the Middle East conflict, with enduring resonance and relevance for our time.

In spring 1936, the Holy Land erupted in a rebellion that targeted both the local Jewish community and the British Mandate authorities that for two decades had midwifed the Zionist project. The Great Arab Revolt would last three years, cost thousands of lives–Jewish, British, and Arab–and cast the trajectory for the Middle East conflict ever since. Yet incredibly, no history of this seminal, formative first “Intifada” has ever been published for a general audience.

The 1936-1939 revolt was the crucible in which Palestinian identity coalesced, uniting rival families, city and country, rich and poor in a single struggle for independence. Yet the rebellion would ultimately turn on itself, shredding the social fabric, sidelining pragmatists in favor of extremists, and propelling waves of refugees from their homes. British forces’ aggressive counterinsurgency took care of the rest, finally quashing the uprising on the eve of World War II. The revolt to end Zionism had instead crushed the Arabs themselves, leaving them crippled in facing the Jews’ own drive for statehood a decade later.

To the Jews, the insurgency would leave a very different legacy. It was then that Zionist leaders began to abandon illusions over Arab acquiescence, to face the unnerving prospect that fulfilling their dream of sovereignty might mean forever clinging to the sword. The revolt saw thousands of Jews trained and armed by Britain–the world’s supreme military power–turning their ramshackle guard units into the seed of a formidable Jewish army. And it was then, amid carnage in Palestine and the Hitler menace in Europe, that portentous words like “partition” and “Jewish state” first appeared on the international diplomatic agenda.

This is the story of two national movements and the first sustained confrontation between them. The rebellion was Arab, but the Zionist counter-rebellion–the Jews’ military, economic, and psychological transformation–is a vital, overlooked element in the chronicle of how Palestine became Israel.

Today, eight decades on, the revolt’s legacy endures. Hamas’s armed wing and rockets carry the name of the fighter-preacher whose death sparked the 1936 rebellion. When Israel builds security barriers, sets up checkpoints, or razes homes, it is evoking laws and methods inherited from its British predecessor. And when Washington promotes a “two-state solution,” it is invoking a plan with roots in this same pivotal period.

Based on extensive archival research on three continents and in three languages, Palestine 1936 is the origin story of the world’s most intractable conflict, but it is also more than that. In Oren Kessler’s engaging, journalistic voice, it reveals world-changing events through extraordinary individuals on all sides: their loves and their hatreds, their deepest fears and profoundest hopes.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Middle East, Israel, Politics, Jewish, War

336 pages, Hardcover

First published February 15, 2023

About the author

Oren Kessler is an author based in Tel Aviv and New York. A fellow of the Royal Historical Society, he was previously deputy director for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society in London, Arab affairs correspondent for The Jerusalem Post, and an editor and translator at Haaretz English edition.

Kessler’s work has appeared in outlets including Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.

Raised in Rochester, New York and Tel Aviv, he holds a BA in history from the University of Toronto and an MA in Government from Reichman University.

Palestine 1936, his first book, was named winner of the 2024 Sami Rohr Prize, among the Wall Street Journal’s 10 Best Books of 2023, a Booklist best book of the year, and finalist for a National Jewish Book Award and the American Library Association’s Sophie Brody Medal.

Reviews

[Bonnie G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not going to say I enjoyed this, it felt like enrolling in a very difficult one-week class. I will say it is the single most even-handed, well-written, well-supported book I have read about the formation of Israel and the roots of the Arab-Israeli problem. I am shocked by how little I knew about the first Arab uprising, and I am more shocked by how much it sounds like the current war. I did not realize I was blaming Britain far too much for some things, and not nearly enough for many others. I also did not realize how close they came to partition and the possible peace that might have facilitated. I give this all the stars. If you want to understand what is happening now you should read this. As Faulkner said: "The past is never dead. It's not even past." Or maybe as Shakespeare said, "the past is prologue." I am pretty sure one of those is right.

[Morris Massre · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read many books on the subject of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, but this one is so much more comprehensive and puts everything into perspective from the start of the mandate until present day. I used to believe that the British mandate was something concocted by the British in order to maintain power in the area and that they were the biggest obstacle to Israeli independence. Boy was I wrong.
The British were actually placed in the mandate position by the League of Nations after WW1 and were very much pro Israel and sympathetic to the Jewish people long before WW2. They did everything in their power to come to some kind of peaceful arrangement to no avail and ended up giving their recommendation, the Peel report, to the UN who put it in place.
I can’t imagine what a difficult position it must have been for the British to be in because it is obvious that they just couldn’t please every one. Based on this I have come to the conclusion that peace could have and should have been achieved immediately had it not been for the grand mufti who was against any kind of settlement. And this, from a man who ruled from Lebanon and was not even an elected official or ruler.
Read and decide for yourselves, but don’t get too bogged down in today’s publicity and how some try to rewrite history. A Palestinian at that time was actually a Jew and an Arab because both lived in the area at the time. And Palestine was not conquered or colonized as some would lead you to believe. Arabs actually sold a great deal of land to Jews and got quite rich doing so. But even if you do believe in Israel being a conquered nation then to the victor goes the spoils. I don’t see America giving back any of the fifty states to the Native Americans and this country was 100% colonized and conquered.

[Evan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oren Kessler has written an even-handed and well-researched account of the Great Revolt of 1936, and features key figures among the British, Jewish and Palestinian sides. Particularly compelling is Kessler's narrative of the Arab nationalist and Cambridge-educated Musa Alami, who is is twinned with David Ben-Gurion. Kessler also recounts the Lebanese writer George Antonius and his influential 1938 book, "The Arab Awakening." In addition, the various British diplomats and soldiers play an obviously important role in this story, including Harold MacMichael, and Malcolm MacDonald, whose 1938 White Paper which repealed the Peel Report, set the course for modern Israel to be born in 1948. Kessler's writing is crisp, clear, and compelling, and this is a book that should be devoured by anyone with an interest in Mideast history.

[Richard Kravitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was exceptionally well-written and balanced book. I had known certain aspects from previous books I've read, including "1948" by Benny Morris, but Kessler's book really rounded everything out and clarified things for me to a much greater extent. Yes, the Arabs got a raw deal for sure, but the outcome was as much their fault as it was the British and the Jews. However, everyone else was able to come out OK and move on...except them. And they have only themselves to blame I'm afraid.

Of course, reading this during the current tragedy that began unfolding on October 7th lends a greater urgency to everything. For over 100 years now the Arabs of Palestine have been outworked and outclassed by the Israeli's, this is just latest, most cruel episode for a dismal people stuck under the thumb of Iran and Medieval-minded Jihadists and Islam itself.

I am Jewish and 100% in favor of Israel. If not for the al-Husseini's intransigence and the archaic Islamic interpretation of the modern world, the Arabs of Palestine could have had their independence and a great deal of say over the Jews and the "Holy Land", starting back in the 30's, well before the Hitler and the Holocaust.

But things didn't work out that way. The Arabs made decisions, declined offers, attacked and lost, attacked and lost again, attacked and lost again. And in the whole time they screamed, carried on, spewed propaganda, fought with each other and have basically self-sabotaged any possibility of peace in the region. In the same time, the Israeli's have become almost a world power, a $500 billion economic engine and a refuge for Jews from all over the world, they dominate the Arabs/Palestinians in every imaginable way. I just don't see the Israeli's disappearing, walking into the Mediterranean or being exiled to some empty piece of land somewhere far away. Israel is there to stay and the Arabs who refuse to accept that fact are destined to continue dying in larger and larger numbers, as evidence in Gaza right now. Turning back the clock is not possible.

[Shoshana Stubin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was really excellent! I am speaking as an American Orthodox Jewish woman, now living in israel, and a committed Zionist. I love learning history, and have never heard such an in-depth discussion covering the various perspectives of both Arab Muslims and Christians living in the Palestine Mandate in the early 20th century. I particularly enjoyed it because it there was no obvious attempt to convince the reader of the correctness of any viewpoint, including those of the many British officials and Jewish leaders involved in shaping history during the pre-war years.

[Marcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a well-written examination of the revolt and violence from 1936-39 in Palestine. Kessler recounts the history of Palestine in the early 20th century preceding the Great Arab Revolt, introducing readers to the major players from all sides, British, Arabs and Jews. Essential reader for anyone interested in the history of the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

[Mac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Borrow.

Excellent history of those early (in a modern context) years in which the table was set for future conflict. While you will walk away with further understanding, you won't leave with any brilliant solutions. Both sides had and continue to have rational claims and angst.

[Jeffrey Pedro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kessler’s Palestine 1936 examines the historical events leading to the construction of a Jewish State on Palestinian territory. This issue is thoughtfully addressed in a well-written piece. According to Kessler, Jews and Palestinians lived peacefully among one another in Palestine prior to Britain’s intrusion. Britain’s promise of Arab independence after the fall of the Ottoman Empire preceded the goal of creating a nationally recognized Jewish State. One thing is made clear, British imperialism played a key role in the birth of this conflict.

This book focuses on history from the 1910s through the 1940s, ending with the start of WWII. Kessler gives context to major players and grievances among both Britain, Jews, and Palestinians. He also seamlessly incorporates the history behind the rise of a fourth threat in the form of Hitler and Nazi Germany. The social construct of racism being propped up by leaders plays a significant role on all sides of this conflict. What I found appalling was the audacity for imperial forces (Britain, United States, and other European countries) to impose the forced migration of peoples on another nation, without providing a safe haven themselves. These forces should be held accountable today!

I’d recommend this work to anyone interested in piecing together the current manifestations of this conflict. Israel’s treatment of Palestinians should be critically examined by all nations as there are parallels drawn to an apartheid state. When one group of people dehumanizes and denies the existence of the other, there’s little opportunity for a resolution to this problem.



“I have a deep-rooted belief in the Arab nation and its great capacities. The disaster has shaken us profoundly, and wounded us deeply, and opened the door to a great danger. If the shock wakes us up, brings us together, and impels us to a new life form which we can derive strength, the wound will heal, the danger will be averted, and Palestine will be recovered. And the misfortunes will be a blessing.

But if not, woe to the outcome.”
- Musa Alami

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will borrow from another review to start “I am not going to say I enjoyed this, it felt like enrolling in a very difficult one-week class. I will say it is the single most even-handed, well-written, well-supported book I have read about the formation of Israel and the roots of the Arab-Israeli problem.”

Kessler is clear and compelling in tackling just a few decades in the complicated 20th century Palestinian Arab-Jewish conflict. Given his background as a journalist, it was a good choice to guide the narrative framing through timelines of several leaders within each of the British, Arab and Jewish people making power plays in the region. This book tells the actual history of two nationalist movements, and the British colonizers overplaying their hand... with details on the impact of the Treaty of Versailles and the true depth of what European mandates did the people they were oppressing.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking to understand the historical entrenchment of anti-Arab bias in the negotiations of their right to govern a place they already lived and had lived in for hundreds of years.

4.5 ⭐️

[Gwendoline Dct · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was difficult yet very comprehensive and stunningly written - thank you

[Zoe Hamburger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very unique read. Provides a lot of stories and information that I haven’t read before. If you like reading about Israeli history this is definitely a must read.

[Husam Abdullatif · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative….. depth of knowledge of the past superimposed on current developments. important to read to know everything about the origin of the conflict and how it is still progressing.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative. I didn't know much about this period and this was a well balanced account. The end, before the summary of how we got to now was quite abrupt. I would have preferred more detail and to have skipped the 80 years in 10 minutes. While I also would have liked a little more about the civil war, that wasn't the focus of this book.

[Erika Dreifus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely informative.

[Rachel L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Utterly fascinating, really well written.

[Dorothy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book convinced me that journalists write better books about history than historians. The focus on major characters as events occurred on the British, Arab, and Jewish sides of love/hate triangular relationships make for a fascinating read. The structure, writing, and pacing of explanations of these interesting people and this complex subject are brilliantly done. Highly recommended for anyone interested in today’s Israel/Palestine conflict.

[Jessica Brusven · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensive and well researched account of events in Palestine from 1936-1939. It aided in my understanding of the history of colonialism in that region and the major powers involved. It gives a balanced perspective that is grounded in facts.

[Malcolm Murrell-Byrd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kessler's focus on the 1936-1939 revolt is essential in understanding the decades of suffering the Palestinians have faced afterward. However, he focuses heavily on the Palestinian elite and leaders of the Zionist movement which neglects the grass-roots reality of one of modern histories longest strikes/boycotts and revolts. There is no focus in this book on how the Palestinian populous sustained such a feet. The second phase of the revolt in this text is swallowed up in correspondence and limits Britain's brutal military response that killed thousands of Palestinians. This is odd because Kessler cites Jacob Norris "Repression and Rebellion: Britain’s Response to the Arab Revolt in Palestine of 1936 – 39" (2008), and yet he limits its mention and ignores further analysis.

In the end this historical event was Palestine's revolution, one in which was from the grass-roots of the Palestinian people as the Palestinian elites and leaders were exiled out of the country. The Zionists were able to develop proto-government organizations and military which were all supported by Britain. While the Zionists were developing and increasing their settler colonial objective with the protection of imperial backing, the Palestinians suffered by Jewish terrorism, imperial military brutality, and overall denial and ignorance of their grievances by imperial policy makers.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kessler did a remarkable job presenting both sides of the the Great Revolt. Having read other books on Israel and the Middle East, I was familiar with some of the players, but they were clearly depicted. Kessler clearly lays out how this pre-WW2 conflict contributed in laying the groundwork for subsequent conflicts.

The more I read, the more I feel the devastation of the Jews and Arabs (let’s be specific: I am not talking about the current Israeli government or Hamas terrorists).
The more I see and touch, the more real it is.

Will we see the day of the city of God? Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem

[Scott Oatley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gives fantastic attention to detail, though to call this a book on the great revolt is somewhat misleading. It provides a contextual overview of the revolt with greater attention being paid to British policy more than anything. The rural elements of the revolt and their consequences are glossed over to instead speak on the “leaders” of revolt. That being said, the depth in which it does cover those figures is exceptional as it is despairing.

[Anna Persky · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is told with meticulous details and narratives from British, Arab and Jewish perspectives. It describes how the Great Revolt affected the region and led to present day events. Informative and completely immersive.

[Matt Potts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible History told through the eyes of Musa Alami, George Antonius, David Ben-Gurion, Haj Amin al-Husseini, and the revolving door of British officials in the Palestinian Mandate.

Highly recommend

[Sari · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is a tremendous amount of historical detail in “Palestine 1936,” by Oren Kessler that I had not known. I intend to reread it in the near future, because it is so detailed. I learned a lot from this book.

[Brent R. Grover · Rating 4 out of 5]

Filling in the blanks of Middle East history

The details in this history of the 1930s
make it clear that the partition of Palestine never had a chance to succeed.

[Rachel Sharf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent.

[Chase · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic. This is a must read for a better understanding of the Middle East conflict.

[Brownie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Devastating, dispiriting, disheartening ー but excellent. I don't know what the competition was like, but it well deserves the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature and others.

[Vic Lauterbach · Rating 5 out of 5]

This excellent micro-history should be read as a starting point by every person who seeks to understand the current (and past) conflict between Israel, the Arab states, their proxies, and the descendants of the displaced Palestinian Arabs. At times, the events related are depressingly familiar (such as pp. 74-80 relating the riot of August 1929) but what really shines through is how easily people turn to violence to "solve" their problems. Governing Palestine was an intractable problem foisted on the British Government by the League of Nations in response to its Balfour Declaration of 1917, a document no British politician at the time dreamed would commit them to creating a Jewish state in a land of 787,182 people (by the 2022 census), only 11% of whom were Jews (and about 10% Arab Christians). For years after the end of the Great War, the political situation attracted little attention from the Arab population whose leaders, notably Haj Amin, were focused on ensuring that their lands were part of 'Greater Syria' ruled by Faisal I son of Hussain bin Ali, the Hashemite sherif of Mecca. When that kingdom came into being as Iraq without French Syria or Lebanon, Transjordan was created, a new entity ruled by Faisal's brother Abdullah as emir (under British "protection"). That left Palestine without any real political structure. The British hoped the informal rule of the six 'notable' families would suffice, one of which held the offices of Mayor and Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, leftovers from Ottoman rule. The reality was much different. Surging Jewish immigration and increasing land sales to Jews, including sales by the six notable families, drove the Arabs to first go on strike and then rise in armed revolt. Violence steadily escalated for the next three years until Britain committed more troops and crushed the revolt (helped by Jewish police and paramilitaries that they organized and armed). Mr. Kessler chronicles both the violence on the ground and the diplomatic battles in London. Both Arabs and Jews had political supporters in Britain, and both factions sought to impose a "rational" solution. Their ultimate failure foreshadowed many more attempts. Mr. Kessler argues persuasively that the 1936-39 revolt did irreparable damage to Palestinian Arab society and polity. Lacking dynamic, visionary leaders and the sense of mission possessed by the Yishuv, the Palestinian Arab factions became marginalized pawns in the Arab League's war on nascent Israel. Almost a century of bloodshed has done nothing to change that. This book is both enlightening and frightening. Looking at the lands of the former Mandate today, it's easy to ask how could so much human passion, effort and suffering yield so little understanding? This book answers that question. You may not like the answer, but you will understand how we got to where we are today.

[Corey Trowbridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Catastrophic Blueprint

Oren Kessler’s Palestine 1936 is a work of historical journalism that is as compelling as it is crucial. It succeeds in excavating the 1936-1939 Arab Revolt from the strata of forgotten history and placing it where it belongs: as the foundational event, the tragic blueprint, for the conflict that has defined the Middle East ever since. Kessler’s meticulous research and narrative-driven prose provide a powerful corrective to simplistic accounts, demonstrating with bracing clarity how the decisions made by a handful of men in a three-year period set the region on its calamitous course.

The book’s greatest strength lies in its unflinching examination of leadership and its consequences. Kessler presents a damning portrait of the British Mandate authorities, whose administration was a masterclass in failure. Driven by a mixture of imperial fatigue, bureaucratic inertia, and a fatally naive belief that concessions would placate extremism, the British repeatedly failed in the first duty of any government: to maintain order and protect the lives of those under its jurisdiction. By responding to violence with appeasement, as exemplified by their reaction to the initial pogroms and their subsequent vacillation, they created a moral hazard, incentivizing further bloodshed and demonstrating to all parties that force, not law, was the final arbiter in Palestine.

At the heart of the tragedy is Kessler’s portrayal of the Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husayni. He is presented not as a nationalist hero but as a man consumed by an absolutist ideology and an unyielding quest for personal power. The revolt, under his guidance, becomes less a coherent political movement and more a spiral of self-immolation. The Mufti’s systematic rejection of any compromise, most notably the Peel Commission’s partition plan which would have granted the Arabs a state in the vast majority of the territory, is shown to be the conflict’s pivotal disaster. It was a choice born not of political pragmatism but of a totalizing worldview that could not countenance a non-Arab, non-Muslim sovereign presence. This intransigence ultimately devoured the Arab cause from within, turning the revolt into an internal purge that killed far more Arabs than Jews. It is a chilling account of how the pursuit of an ideological utopia leads directly to earthly ruin.

In response to this vacuum of authority and the rise of nihilistic violence, the Jewish Yishuv undergoes a painful but necessary transformation. Kessler skillfully documents their initial policy of havlagah, or restraint, giving way to the sober realization that neither British protection nor the goodwill of their neighbors could be relied upon. The establishment of their own defense forces and political infrastructure was not an act of aggression, but the logical and unavoidable consequence of the collapse of civil order. It was a community choosing self-preservation and responsibility over victimhood, building the foundational structures of a state because the existing sovereign had utterly abdicated its role.

Palestine 1936 is a profoundly somber book, a chronicle of opportunities squandered and destructive precedents set. Kessler avoids polemic, allowing the historical record to speak for itself. The result is an indictment of the pride, ideological fervor, and political malpractice that lit a fire that has yet to be extinguished. It is essential reading for anyone who wishes to look beyond modern headlines and understand the disastrous human choices that forged the century of conflict that followed.

[Cish · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Two powerful forces are colliding. Blood is inevitable. It has flowed in the past, it is flowing today; it will flow in the future until one side emerges victorious.”

3.5 stars. A relatively impartial account of the events that precipitated the unending strife that has engulfed Palestine for decades.

Palestine 1936 was packed with a lot of facts and information, but it wasn’t always strung together cohesively. I attribute this to the constant jumping around and changing of perspectives while employing wholly useless chapter and section title name selections which just made things more difficult to follow. This was touted as being “highly readable”, but I would classify it as mildly readable.

This era was unbeknownst to me - a lot of bat-shit crazy stuff took place - it was interesting to get a sense for the interests and desires of all groups involved, including the British who I didn’t realize were such an integral part of what took place and who likely exacerbated things. There were also a surprising number of parallels which could be drawn to current events totally unrelated to the Israel-Palestine conflict. I feel like I have only scratched the surface of understanding the dynamics of the region.