More than two decades have passed since prime minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassination in 1995, yet he remains an unusually intriguing and admired modern leader. A native-born Israeli, Rabin became an inextricable part of his nation's pre-state history and subsequent evolution. This revealing account of his life, character, and contributions draws not only on original research but also on the author's recollections as one of Rabin's closest aides.

"From an award-winning journalist, a perceptive study of how Israel's actions, which run counter to the traditional historical values of Judaism, are putting Jewish people worldwide in an increasingly untenable position. More than a decade ago, the historian Tony Judt considered whether the behavior of Israel was becoming not only "bad for Israel itself" but also, on a wider scale, "bad for the Jews." Under the leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu, this issue has grown ever more urgent. In The State of Israel vs. the Jews, veteran journalist Sylvain Cypel addresses it in depth, exploring Israel's rightward shift on the international scene and with regard to the diaspora. Cypel reviews the little-known details of the military occupation of Palestinian territory, the mindset of ethnic superiority that reigns in the midst of an Israeli "colonial camp" that is largely in the majority, and the adoption of new laws, the most serious of which establishes two-tier citizenship between Jews and non-Jews. He shows how Israel has aligned itself with authoritarian regimes and adopted the practices of a security state, including the use of technologies such as the software that enabled the tracking and, ultimately, the assassination of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Lastly, The State of Israel vs. the Jews examines the impact of Israel's evolution in recent years on the two main communities of the Jewish diaspora, in France and the United States, considering how and why public figures in each differ in their approaches"--

From the prelude of the October 1973 Middle East war through the signing of the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty in March 1979, Kenneth W. Stein traces American involvement in the Arab-Israeli negotiations. He provides a range of first-hand accounts, recollections and anecdotes from over eighty bureaucrats, diplomats and military leaders who participated in Arab-Israeli peace talks in the 1970's and since. Charting the complex and often contradictory goals of Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Syria, the US and the USSR, Stein chronicles the evolution of these negotiations and analyzes the roles of Sadat, Kissinger, Carter, and Begin. --From publisher's description.

Through thirty turbulent years, the United States has been deeply enmeshed in Israel’s destiny. Seldom in the history of international relations has such a world power been involved so intensely for so long with such a small power. How this phenomenon came to pass and how it will affect the future are explained in this compelling history of Israel and its relations with the United States—from the 1947 United Nations resolution through Kissinger’s shuttle diplomacy to Carter’s peace campaign.To form the backdrop for this extraordinary relationship, Nadav Safran paints a detailed portrait of the historical forces that combined to create the Jewish state. He unfolds panel after panel of Israeli life—its physical environment, people, economy, politics, and religion. He examines Israel’s responses to the many security crises it has faced since becoming a nation, and presents a clear and thorough exposition of its defense strategy and descriptions of all its wars.Safran then presents his brilliant analysis of Israel and America in international politics. Cutting through the tangle of the Arab–Israeli conflict, the East–West struggle, the disagreement among Western powers, the conflicts within and among the Arab states, and the impact of special interest groups in the United States on its foreign policy, Safran deftly pursues fluctuations in the American–Israeli relationship as it moved from simple friendship to an alliance of friends. A concluding chapter recapitulates the highlights of that evolution and projects its relevance for the future of the Middle East and American–Israeli relations.

Moshe Safdie is an innovative and original voice in architecture and urban design The third volume in a highly successful set of titles Explores how architects can mitigate the effects of high-density urban living and enhance the quality of life in our cities and neighbourhoods Safdie Architects is an international architectural and urban planning practice founded and led by Moshe Safdie. Deeply committed to the creation of architecture that responds to local and regional characteristics of landscape, climate, cultural heritage, and contemporary life, Safdie is recognised for creating welcoming buildings and public spaces that contribute in meaningful ways to their setting while catalysing a vibrant public life. Safdie is a comprehensive volume that traces the evolution of Safdie's planning and design work over the past 50 years, with a complete chronology of projects since the inception of his wide-ranging and influential practice. Organised to follow both thematic and chronological explorations, this monograph is the third volume by IMAGES Publishing to chronicle the work of this prolific architect, urban planner, educator, theorist, and author. Influenced by the diverse cultures of Canada, Israel and the United States, Moshe Safdie's architecture displays a richly evolving tectonic and spatial sensibility. A leading practitioner in the field, during several decades of practice Safdie has designed public institutions, housing and mixed-use complexes, including the highly acclaimed Habitat project, and has developed designs for both existing urban districts and entirely new cities.

During the last 20 years, Israel has reached unprecedented prosperity, yet it is haunted by existential fears for its future, identity, and survival. Israel's legitimacy is under assault from within and without by a coalition of left-wing radicals, Palestinians and their sympathizers, and Muslim fundamentalists. All these groups deny the existence of a Jewish nation and argue that Jews do not need a nation state. Hence, Israel should either disappear completely or become 'a state of all its citizens' devoid of any Jewish symbol or identity. The origins of this campaign are twofold. One derives from the traditional opposition that has accompanied Zionism from its inception. The second is contemporary, articulating the post-ist fads that swamped the West since the 1980s. The past occupies a prominent place in this crusade that aims at the present and future. Traditional historiography, scientific and pseudo-scientific, and the new vogue of memory and narrative, that claims to be the true history of human experience, are equally abused to delegitimize Israel. This book follows these two paths, while avoiding disputes over current political issues. First, it portrays the disciplinary background - the evolution of the modern history discipline. Subsequently, it focuses on the conflicting approaches to the cardinal issue of Zionism's essence: Is it a national liberation movement of European origin that offered a solution to the modern Jewish Question in a world of nationalities? Or is it a colonial movement that oppressed equally Arabs and oriental Jews?

"Israel's special relationship with the united States has come under close public scrutiny in recent months following revelations about Israeli involvement in the Iran-Contra and Jonathan Pollard spy scandals. Cheryl Rubenberg's controversial new book traces the evolution of that relationship from the Truman through the Reagan administrations and challenges the widely held view that close ties between Tel Aviv and Washington have served U. S. interests well in the Middle East. Indeed, she makes a convincing case that, in the two decades since 1967, U.S. policymakers have tended to confuse what is best for Israel with what is best for the United States and to ignore what she regards as the most pressing problem in the Middle East, the quest for a Palestinian homeland." -- Douglas Little, International History Review

This monograph presents the revolutionary results of ten years of excavation and research in the Neolithic village of Sha'ar Hagolan, Jordan Valley, Israel. Sha'ar Hagolan is dated to the Pottery Neolithic period, and is the type-site for the Yarmukian culture, which occupied large parts of the Mediterranean climatic zones of Israel, Jordan and Lebanon during the sixth millennium BC. Recent excavations at the site have far-reaching implications for the entire Neolithic period, as well as for the history of architecture, art and cult and other aspects of material culture in the ancient Near East. The evidence for the architecture and village planning, material culture and remarkable art objects shows what was previously considered to be an era of decline was a time of cultural evolution and development in the Levant.

Negev focuses on two primary purposes, one theoretical/methodological and the second substantive. Briefly stated, the book comprises a case study of excavations at an early (ca. 2800 B.C.) pastoral site in the Negev, providing detailed analyses and a synthetic overview of a seasonal encampment from this early period in the evolution of desert pastoral societies. It thus both demonstrates the feasibility of an archaeology of early mobile pastoralism and grapples with the basic anthropological and methodological issues surrounding the subject. Substantively, both the architectural and material culture assemblages uncovered constitute the first detailed analysis of this early desert culture and include materials previously unreported for the region and period. Historically, the Camel Site is placed in a larger perspective of the beginnings of multiresource nomadism in relation to the rise of complex societies.

Israel's founders sought to create a nation of new Jews who would never again go meekly to the death camps. Yet Israel's strength has become synonymous with an oppression of the Palestinians that provokes anger throughout the Muslim world and beyond. How are Israelis able to see themselves as victims while victimizing others? What does Israeli Jewish identity mean today? Arthur Neslen explores the dynamics, distortions and incredible diversity of Israeli society. From the mouths of soldiers, settlers, sex workers and the victims of suicide attacks, Occupied Minds is the story of a national psyche that has become scarred by mental security barriers, emotional checkpoints and displaced outposts of self-righteousness and aggression. From vignettes to in-depth interviews, more than fifty Israelis offer their accounts. What they reveal is in turn powerful, haunting, subtle and disturbing. Illustrated throughout with photographs, this unique book offers an unrivalled insight into Israeli consciousness, private and public. It charts the evolution of a communal self-image based on cultural and religious values towards one formed around a single militaristic imperative: national security.