This book, first published in 1978, examines the confrontation of the Jewish community of Palestine – the Yishuv – with its Arab question in the period immediately following World War 1, a period of excitement and uncertainty. Its main focus is on the different ways in which the men and women of the Yishuv perceived and defined the question of relations with the Arabs, and how they proposed to deal with the problems that arose.

An analysis of the making of immigration policy during the first five years of the Civil Administration. This book examines the various bodies and individuals who took part in the creation of immigration policy, and the nature of such policy-making under the rule of Sir Herbert Samuel.

Theologian, philosopher, and political radical, Martin Buber (1878–1965) was actively committed to a fundamental economic and political reconstruction of society as well as the pursuit of international peace. In his voluminous writings on Arab-Jewish relations in Palestine, Buber united his religious and philosophical teachings with his politics, which he felt were essential to a life of public dialogue and service to God. Collected in ALand of Two Peoples are the private and open letters, addresses, and essays in which Buber advocated binationalism as a solution to the conflict in the Middle East. A committed Zionist, Buber steadfastly articulated the moral necessity for reconciliation and accommodation between the Arabs and Jews. From the Balfour Declaration of November 1917 to his death in 1965, he campaigned passionately for a "one state solution. With the Middle East embroiled in religious and ethnic chaos, A Land of Two Peoples remains as relevant today as it was when it was first published more than twenty years ago. This timely reprint, which includes a new preface by Paul Mendes-Flohr, offers context and depth to current affairs and will be welcomed by those interested in Middle Eastern studies and political theory.

Since the late nineteenth century and especially in times of great tension in the Middle East, observers have asked whether the longstanding Arab-Jewish conflict could have been avoided. The early Zionists did not feel that Arab nationalism would evolve as a reaction to Jewish settlement and the pursuit of Jewish statehood; to the Zionists it seeme

In this work, first published in 1986, the author shows how the Zionists of the late Thirties related to the Arabs of Palestine and of the neighbouring countries, to what extent they perceived the existence of an ‘Arab Question’, how they defined it and how they dealt with it. The Arab question is as old as the Zionist movement itself. From the moment that Zionists began to immigrate to Ottoman Palestine in the last decades of the nineteenth century, it became apparent that they were not ‘returning’ to an empty land and that they could expect opposition to their enterprise from the inhabitants of the country they considered theirs. Comprising diplomatic, political, social, economic and cultural history, this book is a close analysis of the spectrum of views and opinions pertaining to Zionist relations with the Arabs.

This book provides an in-depth survey of Britain’s Mandate in Palestine, an issue crucial to understanding the continuing atmosphere of mistrust and violence in the region that continues to the present. At the conclusion of the First World War (1914–18), the League of Nations awarded a Mandate to Great Britain, which entailed governing a part of the defunct Ottoman Empire, a part which became known as Palestine. The Mandate, empowering Britain to govern this area for an unspecified period, had as one of its main objectives the understanding that Britain would assist the Zionist Movement in the creation of a Homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine. During the thirty years that Britain ruled Palestine, it made no serious effort to carry out this commitment. The author discusses a variety of reasons for this failure, but the greatest obstacle preventing it from fulfilling its Mandate was that Britain completely miscalculated the reaction of the large Arab majority in the country. In fear of repercussions from the growing Arab nationalism various British Governments over the years decided that their best interests would be served by appeasing the Palestine Arabs and reneging on the British promise to Zionism. As the author shows, Britain’s failure to fulfil its Mandate obligations was a major contribution to the problems that have persisted in the Middle East for decades.