The Complete Idiot's Guide to Middle East Conflict Read online

  The Islamic Reformation

  The Dream of Unity

  Young Turks

  Ferment in Arabia

  The Arab Revolt

  Searching for a Palestinian Identity

  Part 3: The Great War’s Spoils

  6 Trouble Brews in Palestine

  Empire First, Freedom Later

  Wilson’s Concept of Self-Determination

  Messieurs King and Crane

  The Middle East into Mandates

  The New Pharaoh

  Jews Move from Farms to Cities

  More Aliyahs

  Too Many Jews, Not Enough Space

  More for Less or Less Is More

  Selective Flood Control

  Culture Shock

  Hear No Evil

  Lawrence’s Offspring

  The First Arab Riots

  Meet the Mufti

  Riots Become an Arab Weapon

  Churchill Tries White Out

  Arab Pogroms

  Jews Try Self-Defense

  Hello, Haganah

  Papering Over the Conflict

  7 This Land Is My Land, This Land Is Your Land

  Increasing Standards of Living for Jews and Arabs

  A Bargain at Any Price

  The Arab Revolt

  An “A-Peeling” Solution?

  Two States Within a State

  Opposition and Outcries

  Brits Lose Their Patience

  Wingate’s Warriors

  Jews Turn to Terror

  Britain Slams the Door

  8 Fighting Hitler and Great Britain

  The Jewish Underground Railroad

  Jews Join the Allies

  Growing Jewish Militancy

  Zionists Draw Up the Biltmore Program

  Palestinians Sit Out the War

  The Jews Revolt

  Stepped-Up Violence

  The Agency Sides with the British, Sort Of

  Dissidents on Trial

  Dissidents More Defiant

  The First Assassin’s Bullet

  Yishuv Outrage

  Competition for Land

  Churchill’s Loss Brings Hope

  Brits Again Become Targets

  Palestine, a Guerilla War Zone

  The Police Fight Back

  The King David Bombing

  Outrage on Both Sides

  9 A State of Their Own

  Holocaust Survivors Seek Refuge

  Exodus: More Than a Movie

  Terrorists Turn Up the Heat

  The Great Escape

  The British Give In—Sort Of

  UNSCOP

  UN Representatives Get an Earful

  The Arabs’ Position

  The Final Straw

  The UN Solution

  The One-State Solution

  The Partition Plan

  Jews Say Okay, Arabs Say No

  America Weighs In

  A Vote of Conscience—and Interests

  Two States, One Happy People

  Storm Clouds Gather

  10 The Jewish War of Independence

  The Jewish Underground Surfaces

  The UN’s Hands Are Tied

  Arabs Take Responsibility

  Jewish Jerusalem Faces Strangulation

  The Legend of Deir Yassin

  Nowhere to Run

  Israel’s Independence Day

  Five Against One

  The American General

  From Marcus to Stone

  Jew Versus Jew

  Bernadotte Goes Down with His Plan

  The Search for Guns

  No War, No Peace

  Part 4: A State for the Jews

  11 The Wanted and the Unwanted

  Fleeing the War

  Caught in the Middle

  Please Don’t Go

  Bye-Bye Haifa

  The Invasion Starts an Emigration Flood

  Palestinians Get a Push

  Arab Leaders Provoke Exodus

  Jews Flee Arab Lands

  What to Do About Refugees?

  Israel’s Response to Resolution

  The Arab’s Response to Resolution

  Palestinian Refugees Get International Relief

  Israel’s Attitude Toward Refugees

  No Welcome Mats Here

  12 We’ve Got a State—Now What?

  The Boy King

  Jordan Annexes Jerusalem

  Israeli-Jordanian Agreement Fails

  Israel’s Complex Democracy

  Religion Versus Politics

  The Law of Return

  The Jews Come Home

  Operations Ezra and Nehemiah

  Those Who Can, Flee Syria

  The Magic Carpet

  Overwhelming Numbers

  No Pepsi for You

  13 War Over Suez

  A Not-So-Colossal Agreement at Rhodes

  Israelis Miss Truman

  Nasser Leaves Israelis in Dry Dock

  The U.S. Can’t Contain Itself

  NATO, Schmato

  Dam It

  The Fedayeen Unleashed

  Canal Collusion

  Back to the Desert

  Israel, Great Britain, and France Mobilize

  Israel Captures Gaza

  Ike Puts His Foot Down—on Israel

  United States’s Turn to Fight

  Nasser Now a Threat

  Containing Communism

  The Beach Boys Arrive

  Part 5: War and Peace

  14 Six Days to Victory

  HAWKs
Fly East

  Kennedy’s Peace Initiative

  We Want to Go Home!

  Flirting with Nasser

  Israel Says “Tanks”

  Egypt’s Vietnam

  The Birth of the PLO

  Fightin’ Words

  Fightin’ Deeds

  Terror from the Heights

  Countdown to War

  Nasser Defiant

  The Arab States Unite Against Israel

  Israel Goes It Alone

  Jerusalem Reunited

  A Second Exodus

  The World Is Stunned

  15 No War, No Peace

  The Arabs Say No, No, No

  Resolution 242

  Israel’s Obligations to the Palestinians

  The Geography of Peace

  New President, New Peace Plan

  The War of Attrition

  The Arms Race Is On

  The Unfriendly Skies

  Black September

  The Year of Decision

  16 Israel’s Day of Infamy

  Sadat Cries Wolf

  Golda’s Fateful Decision

  Unholy War

  Troops Gear Up

  Hussein Doesn’t Repeat His Mistake

  Oil Becomes a Weapon

  The IDF Stages a Comeback

  Superpower Chess

  The View from Egypt

  The Brink of Nuclear War

  Saving the Losers

  Disengagement Has a Ring to It

  Syria Fronts for the Rejectionists

  Israel’s Political Earthquake

  The PLO Goes Legit

  Little Support from the Territories

  Arafat, the Diplomat

  War Outside Palestine

  17 Peace at Last

  Allon Is Alone with His Plan

  Palestinians to Jordan?

  Resisting Arafat

  Carter’s Messianism

  Checks Bounce Rabin

  Begin’s In

  Jimmy Looks Toward Switzerland

  Courting Sadat

  Sadat Goes to Jerusalem

  Begin Plants a Seed in Palestine

  Those Pesky Settlements

  Oil Blackmail

  Israel’s Slippery Slope

  Camping with Jimmy

  Breakthrough!

  Camp David Accords

  Trick or Treaty

  Six More Months

  A Treaty, at Last

  Israel’s High Price

  Bye-Bye, Territory

  Bye-Bye, Oil

  Running Out of Steam

  18 Israel’s Vietnam

  Settling the Land

  Reagan Versus Begin

  Iraq’s Reactor Goes Boom!

  Supplies Have a French Accent

  Kaboom! Goes the Iraqi Reactor

  Reagan’s Patience Is Tested

  The Sphinx Cries

  PLO Tyranny in Lebanon

  The Terrorist Army

  Sharon Unleashed

  The PLO’s Reluctant Retreat

  Part 6: Inching Toward Peace

  19 Sticks and Stones and Breaking Bones

  Reagan Has a Plan

  Massacres at Sabra and Shatila

  Israelis Grow War Weary

  America Gets Sucked In

  The End of Begin

  Black Jews Come Home

  Bush Lends a Hand

  Many Left Behind

  The Palestinians Rise Up

  Incensed by Rumors and the PLO

  Brother Against Brother

  America Recognizes the PLO

  Shamir’s Four Points

  20 Saddam Crosses the Line

  Bush Plays Along

  Believing the Unbelievable

  Oil Slips Through Saddam’s Fingers

  The United States Gets Ready to Defend the Saudis

  A Line in the Sand

  Buildup to War

  Developing a Coalition

  Jordan Stands Alone

  Outnumbering Iraqi Forces

  From Shield to Storm

  Military and Media Might

  Israel Under Fire

  Israel’s Risk

  Israel’s Restraint

  The PLO Backs Saddam

  Saddam’s Mother Cries Uncle

  The “Left Hook”

  High-Tech War

  A War Too Short

  From Desert Storm to Desert Fox

  Clinton Fails to Outfox Saddam

  21 Bush Turns the Screws

  Baker’s Confab

  The Historic Madrid Conference

  Palestinian Hard-Line Demands

  Evoking Violence and the PLO

  Jews Tear Through the Iron Curtain

  Backing Support by Backing Loans

  Operation Solomon

  Rabin the Phoenix

  Secrets in Oslo

  Hoping for a Handshake