Decade of Transition [Hardcover]

Abraham Ben-Zvi (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0231112629 | ISBN-13: 978-0231112628 | Publication Date: September 15, 1998 0

-- Israel Affairs

Editorial Reviews

Review

Important, original, and thoroughly readable. Ben-Zvi challenges conventional wisdom with boldness and originality, making a major contribution to our historical understanding that also has implications for the contemporary debate on America's Middle East policy and national interests. -- Robert Lieber Georgetown University

This work is in many ways a model of what such a work should be. It is clearly conceived and argued, based on work with original sources as well as a mastery of the relevant literature, and offers a significant reinterpretation of an important period (as it turns out) in the development of the U.S.-Israel relationship. -- Alan Dowty University of Notre Dame

Review

"This work is in many ways a model of what such a work should be. It is clearly conceived and argued, based on work with original sources as well as a mastery of the relevant literature, and offers a significant reinterpretation of an important period (as it turns out) in the development of the U.S.-Israel relationship." -- Alan Dowty, University of Notre Dame

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 250 pages
• Publisher: Columbia University Press (September 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0231112629
• ISBN-13: 978-0231112628
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,009,958 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant dissection of US-Israeli policy, July 24, 2001

By 

William Podmore (London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Decade of Transition (Paperback)

This is an excellent and well-researched survey of US-Israeli relations between 1953 and 1962. Ben-Zvi recounts how at first the US Government sought to contain the supposed Soviet threat to the Middle East by uniting the nations of the region, and saw Israel as a hindrance to this.

But the anti-colonial revolutions of 1957-58 destroyed this policy. The US Government moved to support `moderate' Arab regimes against Arab nationalism. In April 1957, President Eisenhower sent the US 6th Fleet to help King Hussein of Jordan, and $30 million aid, after Hussein had dismissed the elected Government and declared martial law. Eisenhower then got Turkey, Iraq and Jordan to mobilise their armed forces against Syria, after nationalist forces gained power there.

In July 1958, the Iraqi people overthrew their pro-British Government. The US Government sent 14,000 troops to Lebanon to threaten Iraq, also to prevent revolution in Lebanon. The British Government sent 2,200 paratroops to Jordan to help Hussein: Israel allowed them to fly their troops in through Israeli airspace. This convinced the US Government that it should support Israel.

In August 1962, President Kennedy decided to sell Hawk anti-aircraft missiles to Israel, hoping it would then let the US inspect Israel's nuclear weapons facilities at Dimona and would allow 100,000-150,000 Palestinians to return home. Israel rejected both proposals, yet still got the Hawks.

This set a pattern for the next 35 years: Israel received huge military and economic support, but made no policy concessions. The US Government developed Israel as its military proxy in the Middle East, however unpopular this made Israel, and the USA. The costs to the region have been enormous: regular wars, the continual repression of the Palestinians, lack of political and economic progress. But this policy finally failed in the Gulf War, when the USA had to keep Israel out of the coalition against Iraq, for fear of wrecking it.