Comrades and Enemies

The seemingly eternal conflict in Israel/Palestine means that many readers know some basic facts about the place. But much of its history remains unknown.

What I love about this book is its patient and lucid exploration of one of such little-known histories: that of Jewish and Arab workers and how they once collaborated against all odds in the waning years of the British Mandate of Palestine, all the way up to the foundation of Israel in 1948. 

I first read this book years ago as part of my graduate studies, but its stories and characters have remained with me throughout… show more.

The relationship between Communism and nationalism has always been tricky since both ideologies rose to prominence in the nineteenth century. Nowhere has this been truer than within the Communist movement in Palestine, where Jewish activists from Eastern Europe founded the Palestine Communist Party. Palestinian Arabs who were coopted into the movement struggled with nationalist tendencies within their own community that opposed Jewish immigration and Communist ideas about building a socialist society for everyone. As shown exceptionally well in Zachary Lockman’s book, working-class Jews and Arabs fighting for a new world ended up in an impossible situation, at times working together… show more.