PUBLISHED BY: ROUTLEDGE
I picked up this book in view of the current situation, intrigued to know more about the history of Israel.
The book is a compact history of the country, giving a background of its birth, existence, its trials and tribulations and its turbulent relationship with its own past and neighbours.
This book is the second edition (released to include the al-aqsa intifida), the first edition published in 2000. And the author has then gone on to release another 2 editions of the same.
The author, Ahron Bregman was a Captain in the Israeli army during Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon and worked for three years as a parliamentary assistant at the Knesset.
The first chapter touches on the Israeli psyche of building up a nation and lost chances by Arab Palestinians to build their own. The state of Israel is born from desperation (Jews fleeing the holocaust) and fear (Arabs driving them away after their defeat in 47-48 war) and strangely a certain forced migration (Israel creating a scare in Iraq to drive the Jewish population into their new country).
The book is a well-researched document, and the author has been impartial in giving his personal insights into the situation and wars. Set in a chronological order beginning with its 1948 war of Independence, ‘Israel’s Wars’ ends with the al-aqsa intifida ongoing in September 2000.
Throughout the book, the response of Israeli society to each conflict is recorded and described. The author has tried to dissect many landmark political decisions and has made all efforts to give a key insight with his heavy research into this troubled landscape.
History is sometimes so determined, and sometimes so strangely written with force of circumstances or on-the-spur decision, just as General Dayan decided to enter Gaza and Golan Heights in June 1967 (page 90).
On page 80, Moshe Dayan, the then premier of IDF had already pointed out Gaza as a hotbed of turmoil. He considered Gaza to be a place “ bristled with problems… a nest of wasps.”
War, Peace and Society. Page 142 gives a concise description of the three wars. The 1967 six day war. The 1968-70 war of attrition. 1973 Yom Kippur War.
Page 215. Al-Asqa Intifida is well defined and explained.
An easy-to-read, informative and surprisingly critical of the policies of Israel, the book is a great introduction to Israel’s warring existence.
For anyone who desires to know about this permanently on-the-edge land, this book is a great introduction to the same.
Preeta Chag 