O Jerusalem - Book Review

"If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I remember thee not; if I set not Jerusalem above my chiefest joy."

These lines from the psalms, the Jewish Bible more or less summarises the passion and the sacrifice that the jews had shown during their "war of independence" for creating a new "Jewish nation". This i quote before the inclusion of the other group in war - the Arabs, as i was deeply moved by the resolve with which the Jews fought. Though this book does not take away anything from the Arabs and portrays both warring factions in fair light, what does not come out very clearly is the reason why the British government acted the way it has. There are definite mentions of biases and betrayals by the British - and this further proves my conviction that the British in all their colonies has sown seeds of hatred. They had for one crafted the divide between the hindus and the muslims in India where they have been co-existing.

Coming from one of my favourite authors Dominique Lapierre (co-authored with Larry Collins) whose books i have always enjoyed reading, this book turned to be a easy choice. But still there are a many instances where i could really predict that some body will end up being a victim of the war a few pages down because of the slight overusage of the melodrama. Nevertheless, as the book promises it gives an account of how the Jewish nation was formed and a very good portrayal of various difficulties that both sides had to endure during this period of war.

If you are looking to know on why and how Israel became a reality - this is the book that i would recommend you to read!!