A History of Palestine: From the Ottoman Conquest to the Founding of the State of Israel (review)

Is this just another book concerned with the Jewish-Arab struggle over Palestine? Will we read yet another version of this topic which has already been discussed in many books?

Yes and no, and the no is greater, because this is a different kind of book, which gives us a fresh view of the history of this troubled area—Palestine, Eretz Israel, Philastin, Terra Sancta—the very well known small area which has become one of the most important places in world politics. Kramer's book is basically a social history that deals with the day-to-day life of the country in the period that began in the sixteenth century with the Ottoman occupation, when the area was of no importance to anybody, Jews, Christians, or Moslems, and ended in 1948, when the eyes of the world were focused on it. Dealing with a period of about 450 years is a great task, but Kramer's book does it well. The political history of Palestine is merely a framework to the real subject of the book, which is the people who lived in that area or immigrated to Palestine as an outcome of political and ideological changes. For those who do not know the historical story, it is presented in a way everybody can agree with. It is not the Jewish story, it is not the Arab story, and it is not even the Ottoman or the British story. It is "pure" history, and this is one of the main achievements of the book. But, as said before, it is primarily the story of the people who lived there, most of them Arabs, who were influenced by the modernization process brought to them by the different agents—immigrant European Jews, British officials, French merchants, and others.

The book is based on a lot of research by many scholars. At first sight it seems that for those who are familiar with the vast literature concerning Palestine, the author does not present any new facts concerning the subject. But the more one follows Kramer's new way of looking at the "known" picture, the more complete it becomes. A fresh, objective view is what a reader is asking for, and Gudrun Kramer grants us this request.

The book has a very good, long bibliography, which is, on one hand, the basis for the book and, on the other hand, a very good reading list for those interested in different aspects of this story of the land and its people. A good index is also part of the book.

There are fourteen photos in the book which illustrate the text, all of them anonymous photographs, according to the author. Although there is an explanation for that designation, it is not a disturbing issue as they are only for illustration rather than explanation, so their source is not important. The use of the eight maps is more problematic, as no source is mentioned and some of them are not so accurate. Unfortunately, this is the case in many historical books in which the cartography seems to be less important, but when we are dealing with the history of the struggle over an area, an accurate map of its geography is essential. That does not make the book less important. Gudrun Kramer's book, although its name is not attractive, is a very interesting, well written book, which can enrich even those who know the history of Palestine. For those who will use it as a first book on Palestine, it is a good starting place.