"You are robbers because you stole the land” (11th century Jewish sage Rashi on what the nations of the world will say to the people of Israel when they regain their heritage)
This new study of the most contested of lands will deliver surprises for even the well-informed. Building on in-depth research, it equips the reader to navigate the tumult. It cuts through falsehoods and fashions about the land and its peoples and the narratives woven around them.
“Drawing on travelers’ journals, academic studies, archaeology and official records, moving quickly through the centuries with ease … a succinct yet very helpful and accessible book for the general reader.” Dr Sheree Trotter, Director of the Indigenous Embassy Jerusalem:
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From the 1st to the 20th century, we look at the Land and its peoples under the Romans, Byzantines, Persians, Umayyads, Abbasids, Crusaders, Saladin, Mamluks, Ottomans, the British, during periods of chaos, and, finally, in the State of Israel.
We see the movement of peoples, the changes in agriculture, the abandonment of much of the coastal strip, and the pressures of incessant warfare and Bedouin raiding. We consider the consequences of: Ottoman decline, the arrival of waves of Moslem and Jewish immigrants, the British Mandate period with its strong economic growth and rising tensions. We examine the manoeuvres of Arab and colonial powers, Zionists and local leaders All this leads to sixteen specific and well researched conclusions – supported by over 300 footnotes.
In Part II the history of the Land is aligned with the pattern of Biblical prophecy concerning the Land and its people, and where this leaves us today amid the swirl of current events.