A century after Britain's Balfour Declaration promised a Jewish 'national home' in Palestine
veteran Guardian journalist Ian Black has produced a major new history of one of the most
polarising conflicts of the modern age. Drawing on a wide range of sources - from declassified
documents to oral testimonies and his own decades of reporting - Enemies and Neighbours brings
much-needed perspective and balance to the long and unresolved struggle between Arabs and Jews
in the Holy Land. Beginning in the final years of Ottoman ruleand the British Mandate period
when Zionist immigration transformed Palestine in the face of mounting Arab opposition the
book re-examines the origins of what was a doomed relationship from the start. It sheds fresh
light on critical events such as the Arab rebellion of the 1930s Israel's independence and the
Palestinian catastrophe (Nakba in Arabic) of 1948 the watershed of the 1967 war two Intifadas
the Oslo Accords and Israel's shift to the right. It traces how - after five decades of
occupation ever-expanding Jewish settlements and the construction of the West Bank 'separation
wall' - hopes for a two-state solution have all but disappeared and explores what the future
might hold. Yet Black also goes beyond the most newsworthy events - wars violence and peace
initiatives - to capture thereality of everyday life on the ground in Jerusalem and Hebron Tel
Aviv Ramallah Haifa and Gaza for both sides of an unequal struggle. Lucid timelyand gripping
Enemies and Neighbours illuminates a bitter conflict that shows no sign of ending - which is
why it is so essential that we understand it.
