A Never-Ending Conflict: A Guide to Israeli Military History

By Mordechai Bar-On

Book Overview

This is the story of a tragic confrontation between two national movements contesting the same small piece of land, a clash that has become one of the most intractable issues in modern times. From the establishment of the first Zionist colonies in the 1880s, tensions have run high between the indigenous Arab population of Palestine and Jews who have sought to create an independent state on land they consider their ancient home. Clashes, both internal and external, have become increasingly violent. Since the first full-scale Palestinian Revolt in 1936, relations have, except for a few brief periods of peace, been characterized by continuous and escalating degrees of bloodshed. Twelve major clashes can be identified from that first three-year struggle to the current Intifada al Aqsa. Here, 12 Israeli historians and writers present reflections on the incidents, along with up-to-date analysis and historical assessment.

After a detailed introduction designed to help readers place the conflicts into a historical context, experts discuss events ranging from the first organized revolt to the current conflagration. As a result of the initial weakness of the Palestinians and the defeats they suffered at the hands of the better-organized Israelis, the entire Arab world stepped into the breach. Wars between May 1948 and October 1973 involved Arab regular armies, but the Palestinian comeback began in 1965, as a result of guerrilla insurgency. It gathered momentum with the popular uprising of the first Intifada (1987-1990) and more so with the start of the second and more lethal Intifada in 2000. The situation is, these experts argue, not without hope of a resolution, but an end to the violence is unlikely to come easily or quickly.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0275981584
• ISBN13: 9780275981587
• Release Date: November 2004
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.24 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

oNE OF THE BEST BOOKS ON ISRAELI MILITARY HISTORY

I read this book in two days. It was great!If you want to know how Israel has survived until today,this is your book!

Very useful of the endless military conflict Israel has faced even before its founding in 1948

I first became aware of the conflicts between Israel and its neighbors during and after the Six-day War in 1967 (I was just short of fourteen years old). However, I had not heard of the PLO until 1972 in the slaughter of Israeli athletes in Germany. It was the first time I had heard of "Palestinians". When the Yom Kippur War came in 1973, I was living in Australia and followed the news in the papers and in Time and Newsweek (which I no longer find useful reading). Since then the press has continually turned against Israel and taken on the rhetoric, propaganda, and causes of its enemies, especially outside America. Hundreds of books are written each year on the history of this conflict and many of them are tendentious. Some are honestly so because they are simply describing what their side believes and are open about their bias. Others are mendacious because the present falsehood as history and partisan causes as universal values. This book is very useful because it tells of the entire history of the military engagements Israel has faced since the Arab Revolt of 1936-39, before the Arabs were suppressed during WWII. The authors admit that this is all told from the Israeli point of view, but insist that they are trying to be as factual as possible. It consists of 12 chapters with each being about twenty pages in length. Each chapter is by different authors (sometimes the article is by multiple authors) and each is fully illustrated with maps and there are endnotes for each chapter to aid further study. There are a number of pages of black and white photographs in the middle of the book that provide useful orientation to what is being discussed in various chapters of the book. I found the information quite useful and the discussions are useful antidote to the current assumption that Israel is the cruel aggressor in this conflict. Therefore, I recommend this to you as part of an education of the history of the current conflict and for the background it provides that will almost certainly change your perceptions of the current discussion in the popular culture and media. But this is a MILITARY history, not so much a political one (although some is unavoidable).