The Jewish Agency and Syria during the Arab Revolt in Palestine - (Soas Palestine Studies) by Mahmoud Muhareb (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Founded in 1929, the Jewish Agency played a central role in the founding of the State of Israel. Throughout the 1920s, 30s and 40s, many secret meetings took place between the JA and Arab leaders and elites. The dominant narrative claims that Syrian leaders and elites were not involved in any such meetings. However, this book reveals for the first time that a multitude of secret meetings and negotiations took place including with the Syrian National Block - the official Syrian leadership at the time - and the Shahbandari opposition and leaders of Jabal al-Druze.
Based mainly on primary sources from Israeli archives, including documentation of discussions, reports and decisions taken by the JA leadership, the book tells a new story of a critical period of history, the Arab Revolt of 1936-1939 in Palestine. Mahmoud Muhareb argues that the main historic objective of the JA was to reach agreements with Arab leaders and Arab states, behind the back of the Palestinians and at their expense, and to normalize its relations with the Arab states while it continued to deny the national rights of the Palestinians. The book challenges Israeli and Syrian official narratives and substantiates the Palestinian narrative, as well as some Israeli new historians who asserted Israel refusal to recognize the national rights of the Palestinians and affirmed its attempts to reach a comprehensive settlement with the Arab states at the expense of the Palestinians. The book includes Arabic and Hebrew sources translated into English for readers.

Review Quotes

Mahmoud Muhareb's excellent book is a meticulous exposure of the world of crypto diplomacy in which the Zionist movement was involved in it the early years of its colonisation of Palestine. Based on a thorough research in the archives, this book offers glimpse into Zionist involvement in Syrian politics in the 1930s and provides us with an excellent analysis of the origins of an Israeli regional policy that led to the current efforts of normalisation with the Arab world, at the expense of the Palestinians. This is a must read for those who want to fully understand how Israel operates within the Arab world and the significance of this involvement to the history of Palestine and the region as a whole.
Ilan Pappe, University of Exeter, UK

Mahmoud Muhareb's new book, beautifully translated by Raphael Cohen, is ground breaking work of brave revisionist interpretation. He has brought to life the compromises and contradictions of the mandate years in Palestine and Syria in a way no other historian has ever done. An important book.

Using the full panoply of English, Hebrew, and Arabic primary sources, the author places the strategy and tactics of the Zionist movement in the 1930s under an uncompromising lens. The early Zionists claimed that their aim was to live in peace with the Arabs in Palestine and to develop the country for the benefit of both peoples. Mahmoud Muhareb drives a coach and horses through this narrative. This is an original and important book and a major contribution to critical scholarship on the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Avi Shlaim, Emeritus Professor of International Relations, University of Oxford, UK

About the Author

MAHMOUD MUHAREB is Associate Researcher at The Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies, Doha, Qatar. He was previously Director of the Centre of Regional Studies at Al-Quds University in Palestine. He has published 6 books in Arabic as well as tens of articles in peer reviewed journals, and has a PhD in political sciences from Reading University, UK.