Syria and Israel: From War to Peacemaking [Hardcover]

Moshe Ma'oz (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0198280181 | ISBN-13: 978-0198280187 | Publication Date: December 28, 1995

This is the first book to deal with the most crucial case of war and peace in the Middle East. Moshe Ma'oz examines the history of relations between Israel and Syria throughout the Middle Eastern conflict. Drawing upon a variety of original sources, the author discusses still little-known episodes in relations between the countries such as Syrian peace offers to Israel in the early 1950s and the mid-1970s; American and Soviet involvement; the role of Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and the PLO; Israel's contribution to the aggravation of the conflict with Syria, and the new Syrian diplomatic strategy since 1988 and the peacemaking process after the Madrid conference (from late 1991).

The book demonstrates the crucial importance of Syrian-Israeli relations for the strategic posture of both countries, for the fate of the Palestinian problem, and for the prospects of an overall Middle East Settlement.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[The book] accurately and fully portrays the Syrian component of the often tempestuous Syrian-Isreali relationship. The book is thoroughly researched, and in the process new data have been uncovered from Israeli sources."--Journal of Paelstine Studies

About the Author

Moshe Ma'oz is at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 296 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (December 28, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198280181
• ISBN-13: 978-0198280187
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,189,287 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Syria and Israel : From War to Peacemaking, July 26, 2001

By 

Daniel Pipes, Middle East Forum, Philadelphia (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Syria and Israel: From War to Peacemaking (Hardcover)

The subtitle was supposed to read from war to peace, but a recalcitrant Hafiz al-Asad spoiled the symmetry. This misplaced optimism in a Syrian willingness to end the conflict with Israel results from Maozs dubious conclusion that, as far back as 1988, Asad made the strategic decision to reach a political solution to the Arab-Israeli conflictpolitical, that is, and not military. Unfortunately, the evidence that Maoz so scrupulously marshals does not support this thesis, rendering his coverage of events since 1988 somewhat hollow. (If Asad has in fact given priority to a diplomatic rather than a military strategy, why has so little happened in eight years?)

With this exception, Maoz has written an excellent survey of Syrian-Israeli relations since 1948. He shows how the bilateral relationship of two states with a combined population of under twenty million, normally not of much interest to the outside world, in this case is of great interest indeed. He recounts how they went to war four times and skirmished on countless occasions, how for many years each side represented a great power alliance, how their confrontation now dominates the military dimension of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and how complex is the diplomacy between them. While conceding that the Palestinians are at the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict, he convincingly shows that the Syrians alone have manifested a consistent political and ideological hostility to the Jewish entity since the 1920s, and a military threat to Israels security since 1938.

Middle East Quarterly, June 1996