848 pages, HarperCollins
Publishers, ISBN-13: 9780688123635
With Israel: A History the late Sir Martin
Gilbert undertook a monumental task in writing a single-volume history of the
modern State of Israel. Gilbert was a British historian and honorary Fellow of
Merton College, Oxford, the author of eighty-eight books – including works on
Winston Churchill, the 20th Century and Jewish history – and was a
member of the Chilcot Inquiry into the UK’s role in the Iraq War. What all this
means is that he was admirably up to the task of writing this tale, a popular
history of this improbable nation that not only looks at the facts behind the
founding and survival of modern Israel, but also at Israeli culture and the
numerous personalities that helped to create and shape her. He highlights the
efforts of the hard-working pioneers that brought life to the desert and
established thriving farms just as thoroughly as he does the politicians that
have struggled to establish the country on a sound political footing. In short,
this book offers the reader a basic overview of Israeli history, from the
evolution of Zionism and Theodor Herzl’s efforts to find a Jewish Homeland, all
the way through the first sixty years of Israeli Statehood (the narrative ends
in 2008 with Israel trying to implement the Peace Process so painstakingly
negotiated with the Palestinians, a process Gilbert was obviously at pains to
talk up).
With its
breadth of vision and depth of detail, it is obvious that Gilbert took great care
in the writing of this book to present an exhaustive and well-rounded look at
the history of the modern-day Israel. He begins his compelling narrative with a
discussion of Zionism, the
national movement of the Jewish people that supported the reestablishment of a
Jewish homeland in the territory defined as the historic Land of Israel
(roughly corresponding to Canaan, the Holy Land, or the Roman-named region Palestine). Modern Zionism
emerged in the late 19th Century in Central and Eastern Europe as a cultural
revival movement in reaction to anti-Semitic and exclusionary nationalist
movements in Europe, led especially by Theodor Herzl, an Austro-Hungarian
journalist, playwright, political activist and writer who formed the World
Zionist Organization and promoted Jewish migration to Palestine in an effort to
form a Jewish state. Though he died long before its establishment, he is
generally considered a founding father of Israel. Gilbert continues his
narrative with a history of the Belfour Declaration and the events leading up
the establishment of the State of Israel and takes the reader up to the 50th
Anniversary of the establishment of the State, through the turmoil of the
Intifada and the ongoing conflicts that Israel has had with her Muslim
neighbors, and offers a clear and honest look at the prospects for peace and
the peace process(e)s themselves, including Camp David and the Oslo Accords.
Most importantly, he also outlines the flaws inherent in trying to arrange a
peace with a foe that refuses to acknowledge the right of Israel to exist at
all.
But Israel: A History does more than recite
a lot of dates and events in the refounding of Israel; Gilbert also delves into
the people and personalities that reestablished and inhabited her. He
chronicles the major political figures who shaped the development of the
country, including – but certainly not limited to – Chaim Weizmann, David
Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir, Menachem Begin, Abba Eban, Moshe Dayan, Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon
Peres, Ariel Sharon and many, many others besides. He also spotlights other
individuals who, although not nearly as famous, nonetheless played important
roles in Israeli history. Interestingly, Gilbert takes time chronicling the
development and founding of the numerous kibbutzim found in Israel, an area of
economic and cultural development that many historians tend to overlook. And,
of course, one cannot speak of modern Israel without also chronicling the many wars
that have shaped the country, such as the War of Independence, the Six Day War,
the Yom Kippur War and all of the other wars, large and small, to boot. While tales
of battles and discussion of tactics are to be found in the descriptions of Israel’s
wars, Gilbert spends just as much time mentioning the human cost of combat,
going out of his way to name just a few of the fallen (on both sides) and, in
so doing, highlighting the real, human cost of war while showcasing the
determination of so many individual Israelis and their fight to create a land
wherein Jews can live free from fear.
Outside
of the battlefield, Gilbert provides a glimpse at the internal workings of the
state, including how the numerous immigrants from all around the world have
been integrated into the society and how this amalgam of cultures has shaped
the country, both culturally and politically. He also looks at internal issues
that are currently facing Israel, such as having to deal with ongoing terrorism
and the conflicts that are growing between the ultra orthodox and the secular
factions in Israel. Throughout, Gilbert refers to the many interviews that he
has conducted with leading Israeli and Arab figures, besides consulting
numerous diaries, memoirs and first-person narratives of those figures no
longer with us. The inclusion of this information helps to bring the facts to
life and to personalize the events described. This is a phenomenally readable
and engaging work, although some readers may find Gilbert's lack of
interpretation off-putting. Personally, I liked Gilbert’s style: he provides
the reader with a plethora of facts and enough background from which to
interpret those facts without dictating that this or that fact is the “right”
one, allowing and encouraging the reader to come to their own conclusions (this
facet was enough for me to forgive his obvious disdain for Netanyahu). Israel: A History is absolutely
essential reading for anyone who wants to truly understand all the controversy
surrounding Israel today.
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