Israel: A History » (Revised & Updated)

Sir Martin Gilbert is Winston Churchill's biographer and the author of eight acclaimed books on the Holocaust. He lives in London.

Israel is a small and relatively young country, but since the day of its creation half a century ago, its turbulent history has placed it at the center of the world stage. In this new account, Martin Gilbert traces Israel's history from the struggles of its pioneers in the nineteenth century up to the present day. Along the way, he describes the defining moments in the history of the Jewish people, among them the Balfour Declaration of 1917; the United Nations Partition Resolution of 1947; and the founding of the State of Israel in 1948.

The desire for statehood long preceded the declaration of the State: For two millennia the Jews, dispersed all over the world, prayed for a return to Zion. The prayer "Next Year in Jerusalem" seemed a fantasy--until Theodor Herzl, in the last decade of the nineteenth century, transformed Zionism into a modern political movement. Soon the earlier trickle of Jewish immigrants turned into a flood as Jews sought fulfilment of their national aspirations or fled persecution in Europe.

The declaration of Statehood in May 1948 and the War of Independence were only the beginning of the drama. Israel's subsequent development was dominated by the conflicts of Suez, the Six Day War, the October War, the Lebanon and the Intifada, as well as by diplomatic watersheds--from the early armistice agreements to the Camp David negotiations, the Madrid conference, and the Oslo peace process. Guiding us through the events that have shaped modern-day Israel, Gilbert examines not only Israel's political history and personalities from Ben-Gurion to Rabin, Peres, and Netanyahu, but also its society, culture, and economy.

Israel is often at the center ofworld attention--usually because of wars, political and social divisions, conflict with her Arab neighbors and the Palestinians in her midst, and the stark intrusion of acts of terror into daily life. But even though conflict has been so much a part of everyday existence, the history of Israel ultimately uplifts and inspires. During the past fifty years, the quality of life has been transformed: Israel is a vibrant and flourishing nation that has made significant achievements in science, agriculture, trade, and industry--and has grown in population from just over half a million to almost six million.

Basing his narrative on a wealth of contemporary documents and eyewitness accounts, as well as on his own intimate knowledge of the country, Martin Gilbert provides a riveting and moving account of the history of Israel.

This is a riveting account of the history of Israel on its fiftieth anniversary by one of the world's preeminent historians.The founding of the State of Israel in May 1948 was a dramatic event in the history of the twentieth century. In Israel: A History, Martin Gilbert tells the gripping story of the events and personalities in the half century leading up to the declaration of statehood, and of Israel's subsequent development. It is a story punctuated by the conflicts of the War of Independence, Suez, the Six-Day War of 1967, the October War of 1973, the Lebanon and the Intifada, as well as by the diplomatic watersheds, from the armistice agreements of 1949 to the Camp David negotiations, the Madrid conference, and the Oslo accords. As Gilbert chronicles the growth of this flourishing but often troubled nation, he examines not only Israel's political history from Ben-Gurion to Rabin, Peres, and Netanyahu, but also its society, culture, and economy. Based on contemporary documents and eyewitness accounts, and rooted in the author's intimate knowledge of the country and its people, Israel: A History will be essential reading on the nation's fiftieth anniversary.

Publishers Weekly

Gilbert's impassioned history adds immeasurably to our understanding of the forces that have shaped contemporary Israel. Digging up a wealth of primary source material and quoting liberally from letters, memoirs, eyewitness accounts, interviews, memoranda and diaries of David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir, Moshe Dayan, Abba Eban, Shimon Peres, Teddy Kollek and dozens of ordinary people, the eminent British historian (The Holocaust) has produced a gripping epic. Gilbert's extensive behind-the-scenes and on-the-battlefield coverage of Israel's numerous wars with its Arab neighbors adds much new detail. While the narrative focuses predominantly on politics, high-level diplomacy and war, it also illuminates other topics, including the Jewish settlement of Palestine in the early years of this century, tensions between secularists and Orthodox Jews, Israeli military intelligence operations, the current impasse in negotiations with Palestinian Arabs and the ferment of Israeli society, which Gilbert portrays as a diverse mixture of immigrant peoples that embody many different strands of Judaism yet are united by Israeli culture. (Apr.)

	Introduction
	Acknowledgements
	List of photographs
	List of maps
1	Ideals of statehood	3
2	Towards Zion	16
3	Beyond the Balfour Declaration, 1918-1929	36
4	Threats and dangers, 1929-1937	59
5	Hopes ... and blows, 1937-1939	82
6	The Second World War, 1939-1945	100
7	The British Mandate continues, 1945-1946	121
8	Year of decision, 1947	141
9	Undeclared war, November 1947-April 1948	153
10	The conflict intensifies, April-May 1948	170
11	The War of Independence, May 1948 to the first truce	186
12	From the first truce to the second truce	209
13	From the second truce to the armistice agreements	223
14	The last four months of the war	240
15	The ingathering of the exiles	250
16	Conflicts and achievements, 1952-1955	279
17	Paths to war, December 1955-October 1956	306
18	The Sinai campaign	320
19	A State in being, 1956-1963	329
20	Years of growth, 1963-1966	349
21	Nasser's challenge	365
22	The Six Day War	384
23	The dilemmas of victory	396
24	The October War, Yom Kippur 1973	426
25	The fourth postwar era	462
26	To the Lebanese war and beyond	496
27	Intifada	525
28	Towards Madrid and Oslo	543
29	The peace process	568
30	'Shalom, haver' - Peace, my friend	588
	Maps	621
	Glossary	665
	Bibliography of works consulted	671
	Index	681