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

The 1929 massacre of the ancient Jewish community of Hebron was one of the most seminal events in the Arab-Israeli conflict—until October 7, 2023, and Hamas’s gruesome murder of nearly 1,200 men, women, and children, and their abduction of some 240 others. The echoes of 1929 in 2023 are key to understanding the complexities of what is, at its core, a holy war. Award-winning journalist Yardena Schwartz draws on her extensive research and wide-ranging interviews with both sides to tell the story of the world’s longest conflict. She expertly demonstrates how the issues today cannot be fully 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.

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.

About the Author

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.