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Foreword by Avi Shlaim
Preface
1 Israel and the Arab World – Strengths and
Weaknesses
2 The Vision and Reality of an Arab–Israeli
Peace Agreement
3 The Limitations of a Political Arrangement
4 Israel’s Perception of the Arab Threat
– The Dilemma of Daily Security
5 The Territorial Status Quo and the Armistice
Borders
6 Advantages of a Settlement and the “Lost”
Peace
Notes
Bibliography
Index
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“Zaki Shalom’s aim in
writing this book is not so much to defend or criticize Ben-Gurion
as to give a detailed and accurate account of his attitude
towards the Arab world in the period between the 1948 war
and the Suez war of 1956. Shalom recognizes at the outset
the distinction between policy and statements, between the
operational and the declaratory levels of policy. He is concerned
not with Ben-Gurion’s practical policy towards the Arabs
in the period under investigation, but with his views, his
attitudes, and his statements.
… The value of the book is not limited to the light
it sheds on Israel’s founding father during the first
eight years of statehood. By focusing on David Ben-Gurion
during this crucial period, the book highlights some of the
central dilemmas with which the Zionist movement has had to
grapple ever since its inception towards the end of the nineteenth
century. These issues include the moral case for a Jewish
state, the extent of its territorial claims, the nature of
the conflict with its Arab neighbours, the use of force, and
the possibility of peaceful coexistence. All these issues
remain of burning interest and importance today, following
the breakdown of the Oslo peace process and the outbreak of
the second Palestinian uprising.” From the Foreword
by Avi Shlaim, St Antony’s College, Oxford
“Shalom devotes much attention to the relations betwen
Ben-Gurion and his foreign minister (and temporary successor)
Moshe Sharett, finding that the two differed on matters of
defense policy but saw eye-to-eye on Israel’s requirements
from a political settlement.” Middle East Quarterly
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