Author: Ian Black
Ian Black
Reading time: 29 minutes
Synopsis
Enemies and Neighbors (2017) is about Israel and Palestine. It tells the story of two groups of people who wanted to build their own countries on the same land. This led to a hundred years of wars, protests, and peace talks. The book covers events from the time of the British Mandate to the failed peace plans of the Oslo Accords and later. It clearly shows why this relationship became so unstable and harmful.
What will I learn? Get a basic understanding of the history of the fighting relationship between Israel and Palestine.
Many things have happened since Enemies and Neighbors was published in 2014. But it was a very important book at that time. Before the book came out, many historians – including Israeli historians – started to look at the past problems between Israel and Palestine in new ways. They used new government documents to check the history that governments had told for many years.
Black’s book tries to find the true story. It shows how these two groups have fought since the beginning. It also shows how attempts to live together in peace have often failed. It is a long and sad story that really began in the 1880s.
Blink 1 – How the problems started
This story could start in December 1917, when World War I was almost over. At that time, the Ottoman leader of Jerusalem gave up to the British Army. The British then controlled a land that was holy for Muslims, Christians, and Jews.
However, Britain’s decisions would cause many problems in the area. But problems had already begun. Since the 1880s, small groups of Jewish people had started new farming villages in Palestine. They lived next to older Arab towns like Jerusalem and Hebron.
This group was called the Yishuv. They had very difficult lives. To survive, they depended a lot on local Arab workers and transport. But this relationship between the two cultures soon got worse.
Around 1900, a new political idea called Zionism began to grow. This started because of anti-Jewish feelings in Europe and Russia. There was an organized plan to find a safe home for Jewish people. Palestine seemed like a good choice. By 1909, the Yishuv built Tel Aviv from the sand north of Jaffa. But as more Jewish immigrants arrived, they needed Arab workers less. They also did not want to include Arabs or mix with their culture. More and more Jewish immigrants bought land and made Arab farmers leave. This was sure to cause problems.
After Britain won World War I, Britain made the Balfour Declaration. It said that Jewish people should have a national home. Many Arabs felt angry. They were about 90% of the people there. They felt that this decision was made without their agreement.
The League of Nations soon gave Britain power over Palestine. This plan included the Balfour Declaration. It was called the British Mandate for Palestine. A Jewish Agency was created, but no similar group was made for Arabs. Arab leaders in the area were often left out and not listened to during talks. The anger was getting very strong.
This anger exploded in 1929. In August, a disagreement about who could use the Western Wall in Jerusalem led to a deadly riot. Terrible violence started. The worst fighting happened in Hebron. This area was important to both Jews and Arabs for their religion. British police stopped the violence. By then, 133 Jews and 116 Arabs had died. Hundreds more were hurt.
Groups were formed to look into the riot. One report showed that Arabs were afraid of losing their land. But Britain did not know what to do.
Blink 2 – The Great Uprising
The 1930s was a time of big changes. At the start of the 1930s, less than one-fifth of the people were Jewish. By 1936, this number had become twice as big. This happened because of problems in Europe. Many Jewish people were running away from being treated badly.
Things became more urgent for the Yishuv. At the same time, it was clear that the Arab people were not in a good position. The Zionist movement had money and good lawyers. This made it difficult for the Arabs to make progress. Arabs tried to create their own land fund, but it failed. Their anger grew stronger and turned into active protest.
Arabs started to speak up for their country. Their voices became louder and more extreme. Sheikh Izzedin al-Qassam, a strong Syrian religious leader, asked people to fight with weapons. British forces found and killed him in 1935. His death made people want to fight more, and Palestine exploded with anger. What started as a protest quickly became a large revolt. Palestinians call this the Great Uprising. It made rival Arab families stop their fights. They formed the Arab Higher Committee, led by Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.
The future for the region looked bad. A group called the Peel Commission studied the revolt for months. They sadly decided that the two groups could not make peace. Their extreme idea was to divide the land into two countries: one Arab and one Jewish. The Jewish country would take about a quarter of the land. Arabs would control the rest. Jerusalem would stay under British rule.
This was the first time an official group said the land should be divided. Zionist leaders were unsure at first. But they later decided that dividing the land could be a first step to having their own country. But the Arab Higher Committee said no completely. They strongly believed Palestine was Arab land. They would not let it be cut into pieces.
In history, we often wonder ‘what if?’. The AHC saying no to the Peel plan in 1937 is one such important moment. The revolt was stopped in 1939. By then, thousands of people had died, villages were destroyed, and Arab political groups were broken. But the Zionists had learned about fighting. They made their groups stronger. They also built 57 new Jewish villages in just two years. Some of these villages were also like strong forts.
By the end of the 1930s, Palestine looked completely different. The number of Jewish people had doubled to almost half a million. One out of three people in the land was Jewish. The Arabs had no leaders and were tired. They had lost their belief in themselves and their unity.
Blink 3 – The War of 1948
When the Second World War ended, Britain was very tired and wanted to leave the area. So Britain gave the problem to the new United Nations (UN). In 1947, the UN voted to divide the area into Jewish and Arab countries. This plan caused great confusion and breakdown.
Jewish people celebrated the vote. They felt it was finally a step towards having their own country, after a long wait. Arabs felt it was a betrayal. They did not agree that foreign countries could give away their land. Hours after the UN vote, fighting started. Jewish buses were attacked. Arab workers were killed. More revenge attacks happened everywhere.
As British soldiers got ready to leave, whole parts of Jerusalem and Jaffa emptied almost overnight as people ran away. By March 1948, Jewish army leaders were planning the main part of the war. Their plan, called “Plan D,” was to take important land and roads. They would force Arab communities to leave or make them surrender if they fought back. People still argue strongly if this plan was a real strategy for “ethnic cleansing” (forcing out a group of people). But in reality, it made many people leave their homes. Palestinians call it the Nakba, which means ‘the catastrophe’ or ‘disaster’.
As the attack got faster and took more areas, people became more scared. Golda Meir, who later became Israel’s prime minister, said Haifa was a “dead city.” Homes were empty, and coffee was still warm on the tables. The British left and Ben-Gurion declared Israel’s independence on May 14, 1948. By then, about 300,000 Palestinians had already run away or been forced out. The next day, armies from Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq attacked. They did not come to save Palestine. They came to gain things for themselves. These armies were not well-organized and did not trust each other. The new Israel Defense Forces (IDF) quickly pushed them back. The IDF brought all Jewish fighting groups under one command.
As the fighting continued, towns like Lydda and Ramle became empty. Their people were forced to walk in the very hot summer. This became known as the “Lydda death march.” Other people were forced to cross borders into Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza. They joined a growing number of refugees (people who had to leave their homes). By 1949, Israel had taken 78 percent of the land of Mandatory Palestine. This was much more than the UN had planned. Jordan took control of the West Bank, and Egypt took control of Gaza. About 750,000 Palestinians had to leave their homes. Their villages were destroyed or new Jewish immigrants moved into them. The map of the land had changed. But the main conflict did not go away. Israel was now a country. Arab Palestine no longer existed. This caused deep and lasting pain.
Blink 4 – Unsettled lives
After 1949, Palestine looked completely different. Israel was a new country. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were spread out. They were confused and had lost their homes. They were in nearby countries that mostly did not welcome them.
Israel quickly made its decision clear: the refugees would not come back. The United Nations (UN) did not agree. UN Resolution 194, made in December 1948, said that refugees had the right to come back or get money for what they lost. But Israel ignored this.
For the about 150,000 Palestinians who stayed in Israel, their lives changed very quickly. They used to be the majority in their own land. Now, they were a small group. They were watched closely within Israel’s new borders. Under military rule, they needed special papers to travel, work, or even visit towns nearby. Israel’s ways of getting information about people became part of this system. To get a work permit, a travel pass, or even a phone, Israeli Arabs often had to tell things about their neighbors.
Across the region, the idea of Palestine was coming alive again. In Israel, the word “Palestine” became forbidden to say. But writers and poets wrote poems about strength and identity. They called this sumoud, or ‘steadfastness’. In the refugee camps, families kept keys, land papers, and old memories. These were proof that they still belonged to their land.
In the 1950s and early 1960s, people wondered who could speak for the Palestinians. In 1964, Arab countries met in Cairo. After that, new leaders and groups became important. One of these was Yasser Arafat’s secret group, Fatah. It was also called the Palestinian National Liberation Movement. Another important group was the PLO, or Palestine Liberation Organization. It was a larger group that brought others together. It had the support of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser.
Even under occupation, people began to organize to fight back.
Blink 5 – The Six-Day War and the rise of the PLO
The PLO was a more organized group. But its members were not all united. Arafat kept Fatah separate. He wanted it to act on its own and be tougher. By 1965, Fatah’s fighters (fedayeen) were making small attacks. This increased the tension in the area. It also made people wonder if the peace agreements made in 1949 between Israel and its neighbors would last.
That tension exploded in 1967, leading to the Six-Day War. Again, this war changed everything. Israel attacked first from the air. This destroyed Egypt’s air force in hours. Then, quick ground attacks moved through Sinai and Gaza. Israel took the West Bank and East Jerusalem. It also took the Golan Heights from Syria. In just a few days, Israel had more than three times its land. It also started to rule over about 1.1 million Palestinians. For Palestinians, this was a naksa, a huge defeat. It forced even more people to leave their homes.
But did Israel go too far? By taking control of places like Gaza and the West Bank, Israel now had a much bigger problem to manage. And the people there were more ready to fight back than ever.
Israel would soon see that the Palestinian movement was getting stronger. In March 1968, Israeli soldiers attacked Karameh, a town in the Jordan Valley where Fatah was strong. The IDF won the battle easily. But Arafat became a hero. His fighters did not run away. This made the Arab world very excited. Many more people joined. Weapons arrived. Suddenly, the Palestinian fight had a clear leader.
By 1969, Arafat was the official leader of the PLO. For the next ten years, the PLO became even more well-known, often for bad reasons. The most shocking event was in 1972. Palestinian gunmen killed 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics.
During this time, many people in Western countries started to see the Palestinian fight as terrorism. It was hard to find people who felt sorry for them. But a new idea was growing: that even under military control, Palestinians could have a strong national identity.
Blink 6 – The first shaking off
Arab pride grew very strong in 1974. Yasir Arafat made an important speech at the United Nations. He offered Israel “the gun and the olive branch,” meaning war or peace. He let them choose. The PLO still talked about fighting with weapons. But it was also secretly ready for peace talks. This was a clever move to find a middle ground. But it also risked dividing the Palestinian movement.
Peace talks did not move forward during most of the 1980s. The IDF forced Arafat to live away from his home, in Tunis. But the PLO’s political groups inside the occupied lands kept growing stronger. A stronger, local Palestinian movement was forming under military control. By the end of 1987, that movement was ready to burst out.
The event that started it happened in Gaza. An Israeli truck hit two taxis. The taxis were carrying Palestinian workers home from Israel. Four men died. After the burials, large groups of people filled the streets. They threw stones and Molotov cocktails (fire bottles) at IDF soldiers. The soldiers started shooting. In hours, Gaza was full of anger and fire. In days, the West Bank joined the uprising. What started as a small riot became something new. It was a word that would be remembered for years: intifada, or ‘the shaking off’.
The intifada was different from anything before it. Children became heroes. They faced guns with stones and slingshots. Their bravery was shown on TV screens all over the world. Israel tried to stop the uprising hard. But videos of the IDF beating teenagers with sticks made Israel face harder moral questions. In two months, almost 100 Palestinians died. Thousands were hurt or put in jail.
What happened in 1987 helped the Palestinians in their fight to be seen as a real state by other countries. The PLO leaders who were forced to live abroad became active again. In November 1988, Arafat announced the independent State of Palestine. A poet named Mahmoud Darwish wrote the statement. The statement did not speak of fighting. It spoke of living together peacefully. Importantly, the statement mentioned UN Resolution 242. This meant they might recognize Israel. It also called Palestine “the land of three major religions (Islam, Christianity, Judaism).”
For the first time, the PLO officially said no to terrorism. They agreed to a “two-state solution” (two separate countries). This was a huge step. The US started talks with Arafat’s representatives. Israel did not change its mind. It still saw the PLO as a group of terrorists. But things were changing. In Israel, more peace activists appeared. Groups like Yesh Gvul supported soldiers who did not want to serve in the occupied lands.
But at the same time, the PLO’s step towards talks and compromise made way for a new group. This new group came from the mosques in Gaza: Hamas.
Blink 7 – The false hope of peace
Hamas was started in late 1987 by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Hamas mixed love for their country with religion. Its founding document said the conflict was a holy fight, not a political one. It did not accept Israel as a country. It saw all of Palestine as land given by God, which could never be given up.
Hamas thought Arafat’s softer approach was a betrayal. But peace talks continued. At the start of the 1990s, people felt anything could happen. The Berlin Wall fell, and the Soviet Union broke apart. In 1991, US leaders helped organize a peace meeting between Israelis and Arabs in Madrid. For the first time, Palestinians and Israelis sat at the same international table, as equals.
Israel’s new prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, kept the talks going through secret talks in Norway. By mid-1993, the idea of “mutual recognition” was being discussed. This was something no one had imagined for many years. Each country would accept the other, stop violence, and begin to let Palestinians govern themselves.
This led to the Oslo “Declaration of Principles.” This was a very important agreement. It happened on September 13, 1993, at the White House. But the unfairness was very clear. Israel got instant recognition from the PLO. The PLO also promised to stop fighting with weapons. Palestinians, however, got only limited power. They had no control over Israeli settlers or borders. Their economy would also still depend on Israel’s. People on both sides who disagreed with the plan were quick to attack it. In Palestine, Hamas completely rejected it. In Israel, protestors shouted “Death to Rabin.” They had the support of Likud’s new leader, Binyamin Netanyahu.
The peace process soon faced many violent and sad challenges. The worst happened on November 4, 1995. An Israeli law student shot and killed Rabin. When Arafat in Gaza heard about Rabin’s death, he became very pale. “Today,” he said softly, “the peace process is dead.”
Still, in 1996, the first Palestinian elections happened. Arafat became president of the Palestinian Authority. But he could not stop Hamas bombings. These attacks killed 60 Israelis in eight days, only weeks after the elections.
In September 2000, things got even worse. Ariel Sharon, who had planned many wars, walked onto the Temple Mount and the Al-Aqsa Mosque area. He was heavily guarded by police. Sharon was trying to win the next election. He was purposely trying to cause trouble. In hours, stones were thrown, shots were fired, and four Palestinians died. This started the Second Intifada, also called the al-Aqsa uprising.
This time the fighting was more serious and violent. Many more suicide bombers appeared. This showed how pushed Palestinians felt. Israeli helicopters fired Hellfire missiles in response. By early 2001, hundreds more people had died.
Sharon became prime minister that spring. His election slogan made his goal clear: “Let the IDF win.” The hope for peace from Oslo was gone.
Blink 8 – Gaza and the growing separation
As the new century began, Palestinian leaders faced a crisis. Yasser Arafat was sick and losing his power. In 2003, Mahmoud Abbas, another PLO leader, became prime minister of the Palestinian Authority. He became president after Arafat died in 2004.
But Abbas was not very popular. He could not keep his party in power. Everything changed badly in early 2006. Many countries wanted new elections, but this plan went very wrong. The world wanted democracy for Palestinians. But the world was shocked when Hamas easily beat the PLO leaders in the elections. The US and European Union stopped sending help and money.
Israel stopped giving money to the Palestinians. Then, an IDF soldier was kidnapped. Israel started “Operation Summer Rains.” In this operation, bridges, roads, and Gaza’s only power plant were bombed. More than 200 Palestinians died. Gaza’s weak infrastructure (like power and roads) was also destroyed.
Inside Palestine, the political split between Fatah and Hamas turned into open fighting. The US and Israel wanted Abbas to control Hamas. This led to a takeover, and Hamas gained full control of Gaza. Abbas went back to the West Bank. He ended his government and announced a state of emergency (a time of special rules).
By 2008, Israel said it would fight Gaza economically (with money and goods). Then came “Operation Cast Lead.” This was meant to stop Hamas from firing rockets and bringing in weapons. But this operation also destroyed whole areas. Over 1,300 Palestinians died, including hundreds of children. Israel lost 13 people during the three-week war.
In 2014, peace talks had stopped, and Gaza was suffering greatly. Violence broke out yet again. Three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and killed in the West Bank. This started “Operation Protective Edge.” This operation lasted 51 days. It heavily bombed Gaza, destroying whole areas and killing over 2,000 Palestinians. Israel lost 73 people.
Netanyahu felt stronger because of Donald Trump’s presidency. He pushed for laws to make Israeli settlements legal and to stop people from disagreeing. Still, despite the fear and tiredness, more organized groups in Israel have called for peace. These include schools for both groups and joint non-profit groups. They try to connect Israeli and Arab cultures. A sign on a bombed building in Jerusalem said, “We refuse to be enemies.” These give hope. But many events still show that the conflict has become permanent on both sides. It is like a sad story that keeps happening again and again.
Final summary
The main idea from this summary of Ian Black’s book Enemies and Neighbors is that the modern story of Israelis and Palestinians began in the 1880s. This was when Jewish people started moving to Palestine. By 1910, Tel Aviv was built. The Zionist political movement chose this area as the place for a future Jewish country.
As more buildings were built and more people moved in, the Jewish settlers needed Arab workers less. They also kept their Arab neighbors out more. During the time of the British Mandate, the tensions grew. They exploded into the 1929 riots. This began a cycle of revenge attacks.
After World War II, Israel was created. Wars with nearby Arab countries then began. Some wars led to Israel taking more land. They took control of new areas and forced more Palestinian people to leave their homes. In later years, the Oslo Accords promised peace. But they actually made the conflict stronger and harder to change. Israel became richer, more sure of itself, and more conservative. At the same time, Palestinian politics broke apart into strong religious and nationalistic groups that refused to compromise. The fighting continues. But some people still try for peace. They imagine a future where both sides can live together.
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Source: https://www.blinkist.com/https://www.blinkist.com/en/books/enemies-and-neighbors-en