# Ghosts of a Holy War: The 1929 Massacre in Palestine That Ignited the Arab-Israeli Conflict - Hardcover

by **Yardena Schwartz** (Author)

**An award-winning journalist presents an even-handed, thoroughly researched examination of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and illustrates how a shocking yet little-known massacre one century ago in what was then Palestine became ground zero of a war that continues to devastate.**

"\[A\] compelling story. . . . If you are going to read one book to help you understand the current Middle East tragedy, this is it."  
\--Yossi Klein Halevi, senior fellow, Shalom Hartman Institute, and author of the _New York Times_ bestseller _Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor_

In 1929, in the sacred city of Hebron--then governed by the British Mandate of Palestine--there was no occupation, state of Israel, or settlers. Jews and Muslims lived peacefully near the burial place of Abraham, patriarch of the Jewish and Arab nations, until one Saturday morning when nearly 70 Jewish men, women, and children were slaughtered by their Arab neighbors. The Hebron massacre was a seminal event in the Arab-Israeli conflict, key to understanding its complexities. The echoes of 1929 in Hamas's massacre of October 7, 2023, illustrate how little has changed--and how much of our perspective must change if peace is ever to come to this tortured land and its people, who are destined to share it. Noted journalist Yardena Schwartz draws on her extensive research and wide-ranging interviews with both sides to tell a timely, eye-opening story. She expertly weaves the war between Israel and Hamas into a historical framework, demonstrating how the conflict today cannot be understood without the context of ground zero of this century-old war, which began long before the occupation, the settlements, or the state of Israel ever existed.

### Author Biography

**Yardena Schwartz** is an award-winning journalist and Emmy-nominated producer who worked at NBC News, including stints at the _Today_ show, _Nightly News with Brian Williams_, and MSNBC's _Andrea Mitchell Reports_. Her reporting has appeared in the _New York Times_, _New York Review of Books_, the _Wall Street Journal_, _The Economist_, _TIME_, _National Geographic_, and _Rolling Stone_, among other publications. She graduated with honors from Columbia Journalism School in 2011 and received an Emmy nomination for her work at MSNBC in 2013. She then spent a decade reporting from Israel, earning the 2016 RNA award for excellence in magazine reporting. She now lives in New York's Hudson Valley.  

**Number of Pages:** 432

**Dimensions:** 1.6 x 9.1 x 6.1 IN

**Publication Date:** October 01, 2024

## Details

- **Price:** 29.99 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

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- Ghosts of a Holy War: The 1929 Massacre in Palestine That Ignited the Arab-Israeli Conflict - Hardcover

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