Customer Reviews

Caught in the Middle East: U.S. Policy toward the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1945-1961

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although the title suggests that only U.S. policy towards the Arab-Israeli conflict is covered in the book, Peter Hahn provides a concise, yet thorough look at the broader Middle Eastern policies of Presidents Truman and Eisenhower. Far from covering only the Arab-Israeli issue, Hahn looks at the Anglo-American relationship with the other major Arab countries in the region such as Egypt, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. At the beginning of the book, Hahn acknowledges the inherent difficulty of writing about such a touchy political topic. His stated goal is to "empathize with all sides of the Arab-Israeli dispute, but sympathize with no one." Hahn succeeds in this goal because at no point throughout the book can someone credibly claim bias or favoritism to one side or the other.

The main point of the book, if one were to narrow it down to a single statement, is to explore the ways in the U.S. (along with Britain) handled the Arab-Israeli dispute, while paying particular attention to Cold War concerns. Hahn argues that the U.S. had a significant interest in resolving the dispute, but that both sides in many cases refused to budge. Add that to the claim that the U.S. placed greater priority on larger Cold War politics than forcing a settlement on the Arab-Israeli issue, and the result is a conflict that dragged on with no real results. Hahn looks at the various pressures facing Truman and Eisenhower during this period and presents a scenario where domestic constituencies favored pro-Israel policies, while many in the State and Defense Departments feared alienating Arab countries lest the Soviets gain a foothold in the region. Hahn depicts Truman as being much more vulnerable to domestic political pressures than Eisenhower, and also that Truman was much more reactive and inconsistent in his policy choices than his successor.

Hahn's book is relatively straightforward and easy to follow. This being the third book from the University of North Carolina Press I've read recently that covers this time period, I would say that Hahn's book is noticeably better than Little's book American Orientalism, but not as good as Yaqub's book Containing Arab Nationalism. Reading all three books together though provides a very in-depth look at Western policy towards the Middle East at the outset of the Cold War. The organization of Hahn's book is the best though. If one were pressed for time, keep in mind that the conclusions of each chapter do a nice job of summarizing the material. Although there is never a substitute for reading a book cover to cover, reading the first and last chapters, plus the intros and conclusions to those in between would give the reader a fairly good overview of the subject.