The Road to Jerusalem: Glubb Pasha, Palestine and the Jews

Rating:
Summary: Fine scholarly study of vital period in Israeli history
Review: This excellent book studies the career of John Glubb Pasha, the most influential of the British 'orientalist' corps of officers and officials serving in the Middle East until 1956. He commanded the Transjordan Arab Legion from 1939 to 1956 and played an important part in setting up modern Jordan by helping King Abdullah to establish his rule. In 1948 he led the Legion to a limited victory in the first Arab-Israeli war.

Benny Morris, a leading Israeli historian, has based his book on extensive study in the archives of David Ben Gurion, the Israel Defence Forces, the Israeli State, the UN, the Haganah and St Anthony's College Middle East Centre, including the Glubb Papers, and in the Public Record Office.

Glubb retained the typical imperial contempt for both Jews and Arabs, especially for educated or urban people. But his opposition to Zionism was not based on his anti-Semitism, any more than his support for Arab aspirations was based on his anti-Arabism. He believed that opposing Zionism and supporting Jordan were policies that would strengthen Britain's hold in the Middle East. He was always a loyal servant of the British Empire, acting in what he saw as its best interests.

Morris supports the contention, made most notably by Avi Shlaim in his 1988 book, Collusion across the Jordan, that Israel and Jordan collaborated during the 1948 war. He shows how Israel and Jordan came to a secret understanding in November 1947 to partition Palestine and not to attack each other. Since the Transjordan Legion was much the best Arab force opposing Israel, the agreement showed that this war did not really threaten Israel with annihilation.

Jordanian forces invaded Palestine not to attack Israel but to annex its Arab-populated eastern regions. The Legion did not attack any area that the UN had planned for Israel. Israel broke the agreement by attacking the Legion in May, July and October 1948. The Legion took over the West Bank and East Jerusalem, saving them from Israeli conquest. King Abdullah had done what the British government wanted, strengthening Jordan at the Palestinians' expense.

Rating:
Summary: Bizarre Book
Review: This excellent book studies the career of John Glubb Pasha, the most influential of the British `orientalist' corps of officers and officials serving in the Middle East until 1956. He commanded the Transjordan Arab Legion from 1939 to 1956 and played an important part in setting up modern Jordan by helping King Abdullah to establish his rule. In 1948 he led the Legion to a limited victory in the first Arab-Israeli war.

Benny Morris, a leading Israeli historian, has based his book on extensive study in the archives of David Ben Gurion, the Israel Defence Forces, the Israeli State, the UN, the Haganah and St Anthony's College Middle East Centre, including the Glubb Papers, and in the Public Record Office.

Glubb retained the typical imperial contempt for both Jews and Arabs, especially for educated or urban people. But his opposition to Zionism was not based on his anti-Semitism, any more than his support for Arab aspirations was based on his anti-Arabism. He believed that opposing Zionism and supporting Jordan were policies that would strengthen Britain's hold in the Middle East. He was always a loyal servant of the British Empire, acting in what he saw as its best interests.

Morris supports the contention, made most notably by Avi Shlaim in his 1988 book, Collusion across the Jordan, that Israel and Jordan collaborated during the 1948 war. He shows how Israel and Jordan came to a secret understanding in November 1947 to partition Palestine and not to attack each other. Since the Transjordan Legion was much the best Arab force opposing Israel, the agreement showed that this war did not really threaten Israel with annihilation.

Jordanian forces invaded Palestine not to attack Israel but to annex its Arab-populated eastern regions. The Legion did not attack any area that the UN had planned for Israel. Israel broke the agreement by attacking the Legion in May, July and October 1948. The Legion took over the West Bank and East Jerusalem, saving them from Israeli conquest. King Abdullah had done what the British government wanted, strengthening Jordan at the Palestinians' expense.

Rating:
Summary: Bizarre Book
Review: This is truly a bizarre book. Benny Morris who has dubbed himself a 'new' Historian claiming to have refined Israeli History on the basis that he has examined recently declassified Israeli and British Archives, has written a new book on the topic of Israel's War of Independence. Yet, the irony is that this book is almost entirely based on second hand information -- the writings of Glubb Pasha, a British commander sent to Trans-Jordan to teach the Arab Legion "the Art of War." What Morris tries to prove is that Israel and Jordan conspired with the blessings of the British to steal Palestinian territory. Morris (and his fellow 'new' historians) uses the writings of Glubb's post-war memoirs to prove this point. What is not in dispute here is that Glubb's writings do claim that the British informed the Jordanian King not to invade territories allotted to the Jews under the UN partition plan. However, recently released documents in the British Archives point to the exact opposite. The British did not give any such warnings; it seems this was a figment of Glubb's imagination (Efraim Karsh, 'Fabricating Israeli History').

Yet, even more bizarre is the fact that Morris who claims to basis his historical findings on recently released declassified documents admits that Glubb was an anti-Zionist and sometimes seemed a bit anti-Semitic. But seemingly this does not lead Morris to the obvious assumption to hold Glubb's account in question and review the historical account from other sources. Why a historian who claims to basis his historical findings on primary sources has chosen a partisan account instead of the archival material is beyond comprehension.

The final insult is that Morris claims the Jordanians did not enter the war to destroy Israel. Sadly this is a rather heartbreaking and pathetic statement. Over 6,000 Israelis died in the War of Independence. Seeing that the entire Israeli population consisted of only 600,000 people at the time this was a monumental war and presumably the out come if the Israelis had lost would have been grim.