The Making of Israel

On May 14, 1948, in Tel Aviv the Jewish National Council under the chairmanship of David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the coming into being of the state of Israel. As James Cameron writes: "The introduction of the Jewish State into the Arab heartland exalted many hearts and broke many more. More than anything in this century it was at once a triumph and a desolation. Full of high hopes, it produced the most intractable conflict of our times.”

In this brilliant short history, illustrated with many dramatic photographs, Mr. Cameron recounts the events—beginning with the final plan for partitioning Palestine sponsored by the General Assembly of the United Nations in November |947 that led up to the Proclamation. But he summarizes also the more distant history, starting with Theodor Herzl’s demand—the first ever publicly made— for the creation of a sovereign Judenstaat at the end of the nineteenth century.

Of the “war’’ that broke out at the end of 1947, Mr. Cameron gives the most vivid—often eyewitness—account likely to be written. He tells of the siege of Jerusalem, of Golda Meir’s abortive negotiations with King Abdullah of Jordan, of the Jewish massacre of the Arab population of Deir Yassin, of the quarrels among the Jewish leaders, and the creation almost overnight of an Israeli army.