The 40th anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel in 1988 was accompanied by the publication of a number of books which critically re-examined various aspects of what Israelis call their War of Independence. The authors of these books - Simha Flapan, Benny Morris, Ilan Pappé and myself - are sometimes collectively referred to as the 'new historians' or the 'Israeli revisionists'. Revisionist historiography challenged the traditional Zionist version of the birth of Israel on a number of points: Britain's policy towards the end of the Mandate, the causes of the Palestinian refugee problem, the Arab-Israeli military balance in 1948, Arab war aims and the reasons for the political deadlock after the guns fell silent.

LRB 25 June 1992 | PDF Download