Text: English, Hebrew (translation)

Israel in the Middle East: Documents and Readings on Society, Politics and Foreign Relations, 1948 to the Present

History

Rabinovich, Itamar

Jehuda Reinharz

Middle East

Oxford University Press

For five decades, the Arab world has technically been in a state of war with Israel--a pattern broken only by Cairo's Camp David accord with Jerusalem. No conflict in international politics has seemed more intractable. But for a few brief years after Israel's War of Independence, the Jewish and Arab states engaged in direct negotiations that came tantalizingly close to a permanent settlement. In The Road Not Taken, Itamar Rabinovich mines a wealth of new sources to reconstruct those critical talks, showing how close they came to success, and how their failure laid the grounds for the current impasse. In the aftermath of the 1948 war, Rabinovich writes, the seeds of the present turmoil in the Middle East were sown: confused and debated borders, hundreds of thousands of Arab refugees, internal struggles over each government's political agenda. In 1949, the Arab world was divided as never before--Iraq and Transjordan were at odds with Saudi Arabia and Egypt--and each state wrestled with its own negotations with Israel. King Abdallah of Transjordan negotiated with Israel with an eye toward siezing what is now called the West Bank and--ultimately--the Hejaz in the Arabian Peninsula. The region's first military dictator, Husni al-Zaim of Syria, offered an intriguing, if illusory, opening, as he sought a permanent settlement with Israel so he could concentrate on internal issues. Zaim, the book shows, was allied to the U.S. intelligence community. Egypt approached the armistice talks with its own goals in mind, seeking the southern Negev desert and other gains. Behind the scenes stood the region's last imperial power, Great Britain, whose manipulations were suspected by all parties even where they did not exist. And farther back loomed the U.S., about to succeed Britain as the dominant Western power in the region. Within Israel, fierce debates raged over how to handle negotiations (echoing clearly in our own time), some favoring a settlement with Amman based on a recognition of Transjordan's annexation of the West Bank, others--like Ben-Gurion--advocating overtures to Egypt, as the region's most integrated and stable Arab state. With a keen analytical eye and detailed brushstrokes, Rabinovich paints a vivid portrait of these pivotal rounds of diplomacy from 1949 to 1952, showing how a permanent peace came within reach, only to slip away for years to come. Rabinovich has long been one of Israel's leading scholars of Arab history, winning a reputation for incisive, even-handed works. Neither a militant Israeli nor a revisionist critic of Jerusalem's policies, he demonstrates that mistakes and preoccupations on the part of each nation led to the current quagmire. Drawing on intensive research, he not only alters our understanding of the current conflict, but he holds out hope for a future breakthrough by revealing the real possibilities and serious efforts that almost led to peace in the early years of Israel's existence.

The Road Not Taken: Early Arab-Israeli Negotiations

Asia

From the prizewinning Jewish Lives series, an insider’s perspective on the life and influence of Israel’s first native-born prime minister, his bold peace initiatives, and his tragic assassination More than two decades have passed since prime minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination in 1995, yet he remains an unusually intriguing and admired modern leader. A native-born Israeli, Rabin became an inextricable part of his nation’s pre-state history and subsequent evolution. This revealing account of his life, character, and contributions draws not only on original research but also on the author’s recollections as one of Rabin’s closest aides. An awkward politician who became a statesman, a soldier who became a peacemaker, Rabin is best remembered for his valiant efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and for the Oslo Accords. Itamar Rabinovich provides extraordinary new insights into Rabin’s relationships with powerful leaders including Bill Clinton, Jordan’s King Hussein, and Henry Kissinger, his desire for an Israeli-Syrian peace plan, and the political developments that shaped his tenure. The author also assesses the repercussions of Rabin’s murder: Netanyahu’s ensuing election and the rise of Israel’s radical right wing. About Jewish Lives: Jewish Lives is a prizewinning series of interpretative biography designed to explore the many facets of Jewish identity. Individual volumes illuminate the imprint of Jewish figures upon literature, religion, philosophy, politics, cultural and economic life, and the arts and sciences. Subjects are paired with authors to elicit lively, deeply informed books that explore the range and depth of the Jewish experience from antiquity to the present. In 2014, the Jewish Book Council named Jewish Lives the winner of its Jewish Book of the Year Award, the first series ever to receive this award. More praise for Jewish Lives: "Excellent." –New York Times "Exemplary." –Wall Street Journal "Distinguished." –New Yorker "Superb." –The Guardian

Yitzhak Rabin: Soldier, Leader, Statesman (Jewish Lives)

Biographies & Memoirs

Community & Culture

Yale University Press

An insider’s perspective on the life and influence of Israel’s first native-born prime minister, his bold peace initiatives, and his tragic assassination More than two decades have passed since prime minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination in 1995, yet he remains an unusually intriguing and admired modern leader. A native-born Israeli, Rabin became an inextricable part of his nation’s pre-state history and subsequent evolution. This revealing account of his life, character, and contributions draws not only on original research but also on the author’s recollections as one of Rabin’s closest aides. An awkward politician who became a statesman, a soldier who became a peacemaker, Rabin is best remembered for his valiant efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and for the Oslo Accords. Itamar Rabinovich provides extraordinary new insights into Rabin’s relationships with powerful leaders including Bill Clinton, Jordan’s King Hussein, and Henry Kissinger, his desire for an Israeli-Syrian peace plan, and the political developments that shaped his tenure. The author also assesses the repercussions of Rabin’s murder: Netanyahu’s ensuing election and the rise of Israel’s radical right wing.

Middle East Contemporary Survey, Volume Xi, 1987

Established in 1977, the Middle East Contemporary Survey (MECS), a unique annual record of political developments in the Middle East, is acknowledged as the standard reference work on events and trends in the region. Designed to be a continuing, up-to-date reference for scholars, researchers and analysts, policymakers, students and journalists, it examines in considerable detail the rapidly changing Middle Eastern scene in all its complexity. In each volume, the material is arranged in two parts. The first contains a series of essays on broad regional issues and on the overall relations of the region with other parts of the world. The second consists of country-by-country surveys of all the Arab states, as well as Turkey, Israel, and Iran. The accent in the second part is on elucidating the inner dynamics of each country's polity and society. In a work of this kind, the events of the past year inevitably dictate the major themes of each volume. The topics discussed in Volume XI, which covers the year 1987, include: <li> <ul>The collapse of the Israeli-Jordanian "London agreement";</ul> <ul>The outbreak of the Palestinian uprising;</ul> <ul>The complications of glasnost for the Middle East;</ul> <ul>The continuation of the Gulf War;</ul> <ul>The lingering stalemate in Lebanon.</ul></li> While surveying and analyzing these and other developments, this volume also explains why they did not amount and lead to substantive change in the patterns of Middle Eastern politics. Maps, tables and a detailed index accompany the text

Middle East Contemporary Survey, Volume Xi, 1987 (Middle East Contemporary Survey, 11)

Reference

Routledge

Middle East Contemporary Survey, Volume X, 1986

Established in 1977, the Middle East Contemporary Survey (MECS), a unique annual record of political developments in the Middle East, is acknowledged as the standard reference work on events and trends in the region. Designed to be a continuing, up-to-date reference for scholars, researchers and analysts, policymakers, students and journalists, it examines in considerable detail the rapidly changing Middle Eastern scene in all its complexity. In each volume, the material is arranged in two parts. The first contains a series of essays on broad regional issues and on the overall relations of the region with other parts of the world. The second consists of country-by-country surveys of all the Arab states, as well as Turkey, Israel, and Iran. The accent in the second part is on elucidating the inner dynamics of each country's polity and society. In a work of this kind, the events of the past year inevitably dictate the major themes of each volume. The topics discussed in Volume XI, which covers the year 1987, include:

Middle East Contemporary Survey, Volume X, 1986 (Middle East Contemporary Survey, 10)

Rabinovich (history, Tel Aviv University), headed the Israeli delegation at the peace talks with Syria (1992-95) and was Israel's ambassador to the US in 1993-96. He suggests new ways to achieve normalized relations between Jews and Arabs, considering the core dispute between two national movements, the broader cultural and religious conflict between Israel and Arab nationalism, the bilateral disagreements between Israel and its Arab neighbors, and the international structure. No index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Waging Peace: Israel and the Arabs at the End of the Century

Politics & Social Sciences

Politics & Government

Farrar. Straus & Giroux

The Brink of Peace

A major casualty of the assassin's bullet that struck down Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was a prospective peace accord between Syria and Israel. For the first time, a negotiator who had unique access to Rabin, as well as detailed knowledge of Syrian history and politics, tells the inside story of the failed negotiations. His account provides a key to understanding not only U.S. diplomacy in the Middle East but also the larger Arab-Israeli peace process. During the period from 1992 to 1996, Itamar Rabinovich was Israel's ambassador to Washington, and the chief negotiator with Syria. In this book, he looks back at the course of negotiations, terms of which were known to a surprisingly small group of American, Israeli, and Syrian officials. After Benjamin Netanyahu's election as Israel's prime minister in May 1996, a controversy developed. Even with Netanyahu's change of policy and harder line toward Damascus, Syria began claiming that both Rabin and his successor Peres had pledged full withdrawal from the Golan Heights. Rabinovich takes the reader through the maze of diplomatic subtleties to explain the differences between hypothetical discussion and actual commitment. "To the students of past history and contemporary politics" he writes, "nothing is more beguiling than the myriad threads that run across the invisible line which separates the two" The threads of this story include details of Rabin's negotiations and their impact through two subsequent Israeli administrations in less than a year, the American and Egyptian roles, and the ongoing debate between Syria and Israel on the factual and legal bases for resuming talks. The author portrays all sides and participants with remarkable flair and empathy, as only a privileged player in the events could do. In any assessment of future negotiations in the Middle East, Itamar Rabinovich's book will prove indispensable.

Princeton University Press

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Books by Rabinovich, Itamar

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Rabinovich, Itamar. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Israel in the Middle East: Documents and Readings on Society, Politics and Foreign Relations, 1948 to the Present

The Road Not Taken: Early Arab-Israeli Negotiations

Yitzhak Rabin: Soldier, Leader, Statesman (Jewish Lives)

Yitzhak Rabin: Soldier, Leader, Statesman (Jewish Lives)

Middle East Contemporary Survey, Volume Xi, 1987 (Middle East Contemporary Survey, 11)

Middle East Contemporary Survey, Volume X, 1986

Middle East Contemporary Survey, Volume Xi, 1987

Middle East Contemporary Survey, Volume X, 1986 (Middle East Contemporary Survey, 10)

Waging Peace: Israel and the Arabs at the End of the Century

The Brink of Peace