Middle Eastern history Books

Book SynopsisThroughout the decade that predated the 1967 war, Jordan's declared views regarding Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict were not basically different from those of the Arab consensus. Namely, rejection of Israel's legitimacy. In the wake of the war King Hussein was the first Arab leader to realise that in order to regain the recently lost territories, which he considered a most vital and urgent task, he (and the other heads of state) would have to offer Israel a meaningful quid pro quo. Hence the shift in Jordan's policy was twofold: (1) A change of the traditional statements that had been made by the King and his officials prior to June 1967; and (2) a change in the views expressed by Jordanian spokespersons vis-a-vis the declarations of other Arab leaders.Trade Review"This is an immensely erudite book which makes an original and important contribution to the literature on the Arab-Israeli conflict in general and King Hussein's role in this intricate issue in particular. I personally attribute great importance to what Arab leaders publicly say and declare, especially their speeches pertaining to the Arab-Israeli conflict. In line with Dr Nevo's findings, my own research indicates that there was an overlap between King Hussein's declarations on the conflict in close Arab forums and his overt ones. Professor Nevo gives a comprehensive and penetrating account of Hussein's efforts to resolve this conflict. 'King Hussein and Jordans Perception of a Political Settlement with Israel, 1967-1988' is exceptionally well researched, and displays complete mastery of its sources. The book is an invaluable contribution and essential reading for students and researchers in the field." -- Moshe Shemesh is Head of the Unit for Research and Documentation of the Relations of Israel with the Arab World since 1949.Table of ContentsIntroduction; Part I - The Historical Background; Part II: Jordanian Territorial and Conceptual Demands on Israel; Part III: Jordan's Options and its Quid Pro Quo; Conclusion.

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Book SynopsisThis book uncovers the true force behind most of the political processes in the Middle East over almost half a century. Through constant confrontations and negotiations with Israel and the Palestinians, under the watchful eye of the United States, the King managed to create a new Middle Eastern nation-state: the Jordanian country and its people. The focus of the book is Hussein's deep concern for the future of the last Hashemite monarchy, together with his own set of personal and ideological convictions, as they impacted on many of his strategic decisions and their contribution to the formation of present-day Jordan.Trade Review"This book, written by a former adviser on Arab affairs to the prime minister of Israel, is a detailed and highly laudatory account of the policies pursued by King Hussein of Jordan from 1963 until his death in 1999. Bligh argues that, contrary to conventional wisdom, Hussein 'was one of the main figures shaping the fate of the Middle East since the 1960s' -- Recommended." -- Choice."The Political Legacy of King Hussein is probably the first serious book published after the untimely demise of the Jordanian monarch that sums up his political activity and heritage. In this richly documented and well written study, Dr. Bligh describes and analyses King Hussein's survival strategy in the last four decades of the 20th century, i.e., the late king's efforts to ensure the survival of both the Hashemite dynasty and Jordan itself." -- Middle East Journal."This book, written by a former adviser on Arab affairs to the prime minister of Israel, is a detailed and highly laudatory account of the policies pursued by King Hussein of Jordan from 1963 until his death in 1999. Bligh argues that, contrary to conventional wisdom, Hussein 'was one of the main figures shaping the fate of the Middle East since the 1960ss -- Recommended." -- Choice."The Political Legacy of King Hussein is probably the first serious book published after the untimely demise of the Jordanian monarch that sums up his political activity and heritage. In this richly documented and well written study, Dr. Bligh describes and analyses King Hussein's survival strategy in the last four decades of the 20th century, i.e., the late king's efforts to ensure the survival of both the Hashemite dynasty and Jordan itself." -- Middle East Journal.Table of ContentsContents: Foreword by Robert B. Satloff; Introduction; The Hashemite-Palestinian Crisis of April 1963; The Israeli-Jordanian Military Confrontation of November 1966: A Prelude to the 1967 War; Jordan in the 1967 War: A Political Victory which Guaranteed the Survival of the Kingdom; Jordanian Composite Nationalism; Is Peace Without the Territories Possible? Hussein's Reading of the Palestinian Issue between the Six Day War and UN Resolution; The Israeli and Palestinian Challenge; The 1970s: From a Survival Struggle to the Consolidation of Political Success; The Palestinian Decade and the Final Closing of the West Bank Issue; From the Gulf War to Peace, and the Road to Democracy; Conclusion; Index.

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Book SynopsisStudies on nationalism in the "Arab World" have dealt with the socio-economic conditions through which the nationalist phenomena emerged. Notwithstanding the importance of these conditions, the focus here is on the cultural aspects as manifested in the language of the discourse and ideology. Proto-nationalist and nationalist phenomena could not exist outside their discourse and ideology through which they were modelled, shaped and identified as a conceptual framework through association, behavioural patterns, and loyalty to collective identities. Theorists of nationalism tend to deal with the terms nation, nationalism as givens without specifying the exact time and place in which the terms had been coined to signify their concepts. This book focuses on nationalist and ethnic discourse through textual analysis from classical and modern Arabic. Tracing the development in the usage of terms related to collective identities, the present study shows that Arabic print language, education and press rooted the usage of al-umma to signify several connotations in accordance to its user, creating perplexity for defining al-umma. Chapters trace the usage of umma, qawm, sha'b and 'arab in the classical texts; investigate the development of the nationalist discourse since the end of the 19the century until 1940; and deal with four religious communities in Syria and Lebanon, and the role of their intellectuals in formulating ideas concerning their self-image in nationalist terms. Throughout, the study keeps track of the changes in Arabist discourse of the term "umma". A Conclusion reevaluates the ethnic and nationalist discourse at the present time, showing that the elitist characteristics of al-umma, "the nation", has had a limited influence on subduing parochial identities such as tribes and religious communities, as well as the Islamic cosmopolitan identity. This book is essential reading for all those engaged in the study and research of collective identity, Islam, nationalism and ethnicity.Table of ContentsIntroduction; Genealogy of the Modern Terminology; Al-Umma & Nationalism; The Lebanese Christians Searching for Their Nation; The Shiite 'Asabiyya in the Era of Arabism; From Nusayriyya to Alawiyya; Druze Intellectuals & Nationalism; Index.

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Book SynopsisThroughout history Jerusalem and its Holy Places have witnessed fierce religious controversy and political dispute. This multidisciplinary study analyses an international and diplomatic perspective which highlights the state/national (territorial) versus global/transnational approach to Jerusalem with respect to possession and the right to worship. It provides an overview and interpretation of the relevant provisions included in the international documents used in the Middle East Peace Process, and researches the historical complexities of the terms "Status Quo" and "Holy Places" -- terminology crucial to the various claims. Enrico Molinaro sets out to answer the following questions: (1) Under what conditions and to what extent does international law regulate and protect the interests of the various recognised communities in the Holy Places? And (2) What types of collective identities and which representative communities are entitled to raise claims on these places? Various communities have raised fierce controversies over worship rights, such as the Holy Sepulchre inter-Christian disputes and the Har Ha Bait/Haram Al Sharif (Temple Mount/Noble Sanctuary) Israeli-Jewish/Palestinian-Muslim disputes. According to the state/territorial perspective, the relevant groups with respect to possession and worship would be the Israelis and the Palestinians, whereas according to the global/transnational interpretation, such groups should be labelled as Jews, Christians, and Muslims. In the state/territorial perspective, the symbolic value of Jerusalem and its Holy Places is related to the development of the conflicting national Israeli and Arab -- later Palestinian -- collective identities. But in the global perspective, millions of people identify themselves as Jews, Christians, and Muslims. These people, who are mostly living outside of Jerusalem and the Israeli-Palestinian areas, consider the city and its Holy Places to be a locus for worship and spiritual devotion. This book is essential reading for all those involved in studying International Legal Agreements and for all Middle East Studies practitioners.Table of ContentsIntroduction; The Holy Places of Jerusalem in the Middle East Peace Agreements; Personal Jurisdiction I the Ottoman Empire & the Origin of the Inter-Christian Status Quo; The Status Quo in the Holy Places During the British Mandate; The Status Quo/Modus Vivendi of the Holy Places in the Arab-Israeli Conflict; The Legal Regime Applied to the Holy Places of Jerusalem; Conclusions & Suggestions for Further Research.

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Book SynopsisFew areas on earth have more history, ancient and present, per inch of its territory than the Gaza Strip. In antiquity Gaza was a horn of plenty, the hub of fabulous networks of desert and maritime trade. Egyptian, Persian and Assyrian emperors fought over it, and so did Alexander the Great, Richard the Lionheart, Saladdin and Napoleon. More recently Gaza's fame has been of quite a different kind -- a place of crisis, anguish and misery. Since 170,000 Palestinian refugees arrived there in 1948, and the Strip became one more piece in the intractable Middle Eastern puzzle, it has gone through a succession of bloody upheavals: passing from Egyptian to Israeli to PLO to Hamas rule,- all the while remaining a volatile geopolitical flashpoint. Apart from separating between Israel and the refugees in the south-western corner of Palestine, the Strip's borders coincide with other momentous fault-lines: between Islamism and secularism, tradition and modernity, East and West -- and between the comfortable first and the wretched third world. Nathan Shachar is a veteran correspondent who has covered Gazan affairs for more than three decades. He has personally witnessed much of the turmoil which has made the Gaza Strip a permanent item of news bulletins for sixty years. This book relates the Gaza Strip's rich and tumultuous history in a highly readable text, which includes time-lines for all major events and personalities (from the Egyptian Pharaoh Thutmose III to Hamas' leader Ismai'l Haniye). It brings perspective to the recent Israeli invasion of the Strip and its political and social aftermath.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Trauma & Violence; The Setting: Geography, Climate, Wildlife & Ecology; Egyptians, Hebrew & Philistines; Persians, Greeks & Romans; Freedom of Religion & the Rise of Christianity; Arabs & Crusaders, 634-1193; Tartars, Mongols & Mamluks; Ottoman Conquest & Rule, 1517-1918; The British Conquest & Mandate, 1917-1948; The Nakba & the First Arab-Israeli War: The All-Palestine Government of Gaza, 1947-1950; Egyptian Military Rule, 1948-1967; Israeli Conquest & Occupation, 1967-1971; Ariel Sharon's "Dirty War": The Beginning of Jewish Settlement, 1971-1972; The Quiet Years, 1972-1986; The Outbreak of the First Palestinian Uprising, December 1987; Economic Warfare & the Rise of Islamism, 1987-1991; Hardship, Delusion & Desperation: The First Gulf War, 1990-1991; Failure at Madrid & Success at Oslo, 1991-1993; High Hopes & New Dangers, 1994-1995; Exit Rabin, Enter Likud, 1995-1999; Barak's Gamble & the Second Palestinian Uprising, 1999-2001; The Return of Sharon: The Destruction of 1; The Death of Yasser Arafat: The Evacuation of the Strip, 2003-2005; Sharon's Departure: The Hamas Election Triumph, 2005-2006; Civil War & the Hamas Takeover, 2007; Operation "Cast Lead", 2008-2009; Epilogue: An Ideological War of Nerves & Prestige; Gaza History Timeline; Index.

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Book SynopsisFew areas on earth have more history, ancient and present, per inch of its territory than the Gaza Strip. In antiquity Gaza was a horn of plenty, the hub of fabulous networks of desert and maritime trade. Egyptian, Persian and Assyrian emperors fought over it, and so did Alexander the Great, Richard the Lionheart, Saladdin and Napoleon. More recently Gaza's fame has been of quite a different kind -- a place of crisis, anguish and misery. Since 170,000 Palestinian refugees arrived there in 1948, and the Strip became one more piece in the intractable Middle Eastern puzzle, it has gone through a succession of bloody upheavals: passing from Egyptian to Israeli to PLO to Hamas rule,- all the while remaining a volatile geopolitical flashpoint. Apart from separating between Israel and the refugees in the south-western corner of Palestine, the Strip's borders coincide with other momentous fault-lines: between Islamism and secularism, tradition and modernity, East and West -- and between the comfortable first and the wretched third world. Nathan Shachar is a veteran correspondent who has covered Gazan affairs for more than three decades. He has personally witnessed much of the turmoil which has made the Gaza Strip a permanent item of news bulletins for sixty years. This book relates the Gaza Strip's rich and tumultuous history in a highly readable text, which includes time-lines for all major events and personalities (from the Egyptian Pharaoh Thutmose III to Hamas' leader Ismai'l Haniye). It brings perspective to the recent Israeli invasion of the Strip and its political and social aftermath.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Trauma & Violence; The Setting: Geography, Climate, Wildlife & Ecology; Egyptians, Hebrew & Philistines; Persians, Greeks & Romans; Freedom of Religion & the Rise of Christianity; Arabs & Crusaders, 634-1193; Tartars, Mongols & Mamluks; Ottoman Conquest & Rule, 1517-1918; The British Conquest & Mandate, 1917-1948; The Nakba & the First Arab-Israeli War: The All-Palestine Government of Gaza, 1947-1950; Egyptian Military Rule, 1948-1967; Israeli Conquest & Occupation, 1967-1971; Ariel Sharon's "Dirty War": The Beginning of Jewish Settlement, 1971-1972; The Quiet Years, 1972-1986; The Outbreak of the First Palestinian Uprising, December 1987; Economic Warfare & the Rise of Islamism, 1987-1991; Hardship, Delusion & Desperation: The First Gulf War, 1990-1991; Failure at Madrid & Success at Oslo, 1991-1993; High Hopes & New Dangers, 1994-1995; Exit Rabin, Enter Likud, 1995-1999; Barak's Gamble & the Second Palestinian Uprising, 1999-2001; The Return of Sharon: The Destruction of 1; The Death of Yasser Arafat: The Evacuation of the Strip, 2003-2005; Sharon's Departure: The Hamas Election Triumph, 2005-2006; Civil War & the Hamas Takeover, 2007; Operation "Cast Lead", 2008-2009; Epilogue: An Ideological War of Nerves & Prestige; Gaza History Timeline; Index.

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Book SynopsisMoshe Amirav, world expert on the conflict in Jerusalem, presents previously unrevealed facts and creative solutions for resolving the conflict. As a participant in political negotiations and national decision making, his book addresses disturbing questions: "How is it that after 40 years of Israeli efforts to unify Jerusalem it is still one of the most divided cities in the world?"; "Why is it that no country, including the US, has recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel?"; "Why has Israel failed in its efforts to curb the rapid growth of Jerusalem's Palestinian population, an increase that will lead to a Palestinian majority in Jerusalem in the next decade?" Israel's policies have failed to 'unite' Jerusalem. Israeli and Palestinian strategies to gain control over East Jerusalem are analysed, but neither side has proved victorious, and the battle rages on locally and internationally, with serious implications for stability in the Middle East. Amirav reveals the deep historical divisions within the Arab-Muslim camp over guardianship of Muslim holy places, and provides a gripping account of the Camp David negotiations in 2000 which failed in part due to disagreement about sovereignty over Jerusalem's Holy Places. When interviewed at the time of the book's publication in Hebrew, Amirav stated: "We have to divide Jerusalem. We have to get rid of some of our syndromes, some of our dreams". Newsweek magazine (The Holy City Loses Faith, 4 June 2007).Trade Review"The book touches the heart of the conflict as well as our own hearts." -- Tzippi Livni, Israel's Foreign Minister"Amirav is a pioneer who crossed ideological lines for peace. Through the years he has contributed important insights leading to solutions for Jerusalem." -- Ziad Abu Ziad, former Minister for Jerusalem Affairs, Palestinian AuthorityTable of ContentsPreface; Jerusalem Syndrome - Dreams & Failures; How Jerusalem Became Israel's Capita; The Struggle for East Jerusalem; Why Israel is Losing the Jewish Majority in its Capital; The Most Polarised City in the World; The Failed Attempts to Bring Peace; The Struggle Over the Holy Places; Epilogue -- From City of the Dead to City of Peace.

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Book SynopsisThis book is a detailed and original study of the creation of the province of Equatoria, located in present-day Southern Sudan. No detailed account has previously been published on the effort to conquer and create a new Egyptian province in the 1870s in the interior of Africa, despite its importance to the history of the on-going northsouth conflict in the Sudan. The annexation of Equatoria emerged from the Khedive (viceroy) Ismail's aspiration for an African empire that would control the source of the White Nile at Lake Victoria. At the time he was under pressure from the British government to suppress the lucrative slave trade in the Turco-Egyptian Sudan, and to this end the new province was to be under direct control of Cairo and not the authorities in Khartoum. The two conquering expeditions of Equatoria were led by Britons, Samuel Baker and Charles Gordon (later Governor-General of the Sudan). With them were other Europeans, Americans, Sudanese and Egyptians. Baker, Gordon and some of the others left detailed accounts of their experience in the region. All of which contribute to our knowledge not only of the difficulties involved in the annexation of a region thousands of kilometres from Cairo, but also geographical data and a record of the complex human relations that developed between the men involved in the expeditions, and the creation of the new province. Official documents from the Egyptian state archive, Dar al-Wathaiq, provide detailed accounts of the politics of the annexation of Equatoria, and these accounts are discussed in their historical context.Table of ContentsPreface; Part One: Egypt & the White Nile -- The Quest of the River's Source; Egypt's Southern Expansion. Part Two: Conquest & Annexation -- Samuel Baker's Expedition -- The Treacherous Nile; The March to Masindi; Resistance & Co-operation: the Natives & the Slave Traders. Part Three: The Creation of a New Egyptian Province -- Charles Gordon's Expedition -- Samuel Baker's Departure & Charles Gordon's Arrival; The Route to Central Africa; Military Stations on the White Nile; The Great Lakes; Conclusion; Sources & Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisThroughout history Jerusalem and its Holy Places have witnessed fierce religious controversy and political dispute. This multidisciplinary study analyses an international and diplomatic perspective which highlights the state/national (territorial) versus global/transnational approach to Jerusalem with respect to possession and the right to worship. It provides an overview and interpretation of the relevant provisions included in the international documents used in the Middle East Peace Process, and researches the historical complexities of the terms "Status Quo" and "Holy Places" -- terminology crucial to the various claims. Enrico Molinaro sets out to answer the following questions: (1) Under what conditions and to what extent does international law regulate and protect the interests of the various recognised communities in the Holy Places? And (2) What types of collective identities and which representative communities are entitled to raise claims on these places? Various communities have raised fierce controversies over worship rights, such as the Holy Sepulchre inter-Christian disputes and the Har Ha Bait/Haram Al Sharif (Temple Mount/Noble Sanctuary) Israeli-Jewish/Palestinian-Muslim disputes. According to the state/territorial perspective, the relevant groups with respect to possession and worship would be the Israelis and the Palestinians, whereas according to the global/transnational interpretation, such groups should be labelled as Jews, Christians, and Muslims. In the state/territorial perspective, the symbolic value of Jerusalem and its Holy Places is related to the development of the conflicting national Israeli and Arab -- later Palestinian -- collective identities. But in the global perspective, millions of people identify themselves as Jews, Christians, and Muslims. These people, who are mostly living outside of Jerusalem and the Israeli-Palestinian areas, consider the city and its Holy Places to be a locus for worship and spiritual devotion. This book is essential reading for all those involved in studying International Legal Agreements and for all Middle East Studies practitioners.Table of ContentsIntroduction; The Holy Places of Jerusalem in the Middle East Peace Agreements; Personal Jurisdiction I the Ottoman Empire & the Origin of the Inter-Christian Status Quo; The Status Quo in the Holy Places During the British Mandate; The Status Quo/Modus Vivendi of the Holy Places in the Arab-Israeli Conflict; The Legal Regime Applied to the Holy Places of Jerusalem; Conclusions & Suggestions for Further Research.

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Book SynopsisThis is the first comprehensive attempt to describe and analyse the major developments in Iraq from the US-led invasion until 2010. It is the product of specialists in the history of Iraq, the Arab and Muslim world, with a wide range of views of Iraq's past and present. The main focus is the internal political scene -- increasingly developing along ethnic-sectarian and religious lines (Shi'is and Sunnis, Kurds and Arabs) -- discussed in the context of re-emerging Iraqi national identity. Other major developments, not unrelated to politics, are also addressed: women's rights and economic trends. The book provides an important external, international dimension to Iraq's post-war development through discussion of the central role played by the Iranian regime and its deep and multi-faceted involvement in the Iraqi internal scene; the ambivalent relations with Turkey, which concurrently serves as the main terrestrial channel of trade and economic ties with the world; and Iraq's persisting marginal position in the affairs of the Arab world. The political developments within Iraq are discussed up to the most recent events (December 2010), when a new government was set up. It remains to be seen whether the former centralist policies of the prime minister will prevail in a state which is gradually disposing of the American military presence, assuming command over its unsolved problems of security and daily life as well as of its future stability.Table of ContentsIntroduction; The Constitutional Setting; The Shi'is in Post-Saddam Iraq: A Common Political Front, but Different Tactics?; Kurdish Politics & the Shaping of Post-Saddam Iraq; Sunni Discontent in Iraq: An Historical Perspective; Economic Policy in Iraq 2003-2009; Back to Square One: Womens Rights in Post-Invasion Iraq; Grand Ayatollah 'Ali al-Sistani: Ideology, Activities, Proselytizing, Polemics; Iran in Iraq: Between Opportunity & Threat; Neighbor to the Worlds Superpower: Turkeys Challenge in Northern Iraq; Iraq & the Arab System since the 2003 War: A Persistent Marginality; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisThe outbreak of the Six Day War was primarily the outcome of the tense relations between Israel and Syria in the period preceding the war. Aware of Israel's overall military superiority, the radical Syrian regime believed that the only way to defeat the "Zionist entity" was by guerilla warfare, termed "the people's war". The Syrian aim was to keep up continuous limited military strikes against Israel, which they determined would bring about a gradual weakening of the Jewish state's military power and political stability, eventually forcing Israel to acquiesce to Arab demands. Israel, with the unwavering backing of the United States, retaliated fiercely against the Syrian provocations; the clear policy orientation was the regime's demise. Egypt, presenting itself as leader of the Arab world, could not remain unresponsive towards this escalating military tension and ignore Syria's political distress. President Nasser therefore decided to send troops into Sinai, followed by a blockade of the Straits of Tiran. Israel now felt its survival was under threat. Attempts to solve the crisis by diplomatic means failed, and on June 5 Israel launched a bold strike against Egypt and Syria. The Six Day War not only changed the borders of Israel and redefined its relations with the Arab world, but the impact on the international community still reverberates 40 years on. Despite a plethora of books on the war, analysis of USIsrael/USEgypt intensive political and diplomatic activity and dialogue in the period preceding the war has not been forthcoming to date. Zaki Shalom addresses this lacuna by detailing the meetings, exchanges of messages, and internal discussions right up to the outbreak of the war. The book is essential reading for all those involved in Middle East studies, international relations, and diplomacy and statecraft.

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Book SynopsisThis is a follow-on volume to the author's highly successful "Baghdad, Yesterday" (Ibis Editions, Jerusalem, 2007), which told of Sasson Somekh's boyhood in the city of his birth and the circumstances under which his family decided to forsake Iraq, a land in which they were rooted for centuries, and move to Israel. It was highly acclaimed in the TLS and London Review of Books, and in the Israeli Ha'aretz, "It is hard to overstate the beauty, originality, lucidity, gentleness, wisdom and importance of Baghdad, Yesterday." This volume continues the story where the 2007 volume ends. Somekh, a noted student of modern Arabic culture, relates his life as a university professor and writer, taking the reader to Oxford, Princeton and Cairo, and introducing scholars and writers he befriended: S D Goitein, Mustafa Badawi and Haim Blanc, among others. He devotes a major section to Naguib Mahfouz (1911-2006) with whom he maintained a close comradeship for three decades, and from whom he received the following letter: "Both our peoples knew extraordinary partnership for many years in ancient times, during the Middle Ages, and in the modern era, with . . . quarrels being few and far between. Unfortunately, we have documented the disputes a hundred times more than the periods of friendship and co-operation . . ."

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Book SynopsisThe reform movements and attempts to establish parliamentary institutions in the Persian Gulf states of Kuwait, Bahrain and Dubai between the First World War and the independent era of the 1970s were not inspired by western example or by any tradition of civil representation. The move to a parliamentary system not only represented a milestone in the history of the region, creating a legacy for future generations, but was a unique transition in the Arab world. The transformation of these states from loose chiefdoms of minimal coherence and centralization, into centralizing and institutionalized monarchies, involved the setting up of primary institutions of government, the demarcation of borders, and establishment of a monarchical order. As this new political and social order evolved, ideas of national struggle and national rights penetrated Gulf societies. Gulf citizens who had spent time in Arab states, mostly in Egypt and Iraq, took part in the genesis of a public Arab-Gulf national discourse, enabling the Gulf population to become acquainted with national struggles for independence. As a result merchants of notable families, newly educated elements, and even workers, began to oppose the dominance of the rulers. Both the rulers and the commercial elites (including members of the ruling families) tried to formulate a new and different social contract with the rulers seeking to entrench their political power by using new administrative means and financial power. Opposition against this current crystallized in 1938 among the ranks of the commercial oligarchy as well as within the ruling families. In spite of its failure to create its own political institutions, the oligarchy remained the foremost social and economic class. But the ruling families could no longer treat national oil revenues as their private income, and they began to channel part of these funds to public needs. The most important consequence of the '1938' movement was the formation of a new social contract between the two traditional power centers: the governing structures were fitted into the political and economic reality brought about by the oil wealth, but remained essentially tribal and committed to the power division between the major Gulf families.

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Book SynopsisIsrael's flawed intelligence assessment in October 1973 has been studied intensively and been the subject of much public and professional debate. This book adds a unique dimension to previously disclosed material, as its author served as head of the Research Branch of Israeli Military Intelligence on the eve of and during the Yom Kippur War and as such was responsible for the national intelligence assessment at the time. Drawing on his personal records, and on interviews and extensive research conducted in the intervening decades, Aryeh Shalev examines the preconceptions and common beliefs that prevailed among Israeli intelligence officials and ultimately contributed to their flawed assessment: the excessive self-confidence in Israel's prowess, particularly in the aftermath of the Six Day War; the confidence that any surprise attack could be repelled with the regular army until the reserves were mobilised; the accepted profile of Sadat as a weak leader with limited powers and initiative; and the belief in Israel's correct understanding of Egyptian and Syrian operational plans . . . Beyond explaining where Israeli intelligence erred, the book probes expectations of military intelligence in general and the relationship between military and political assessments. It considers what kind of assessment an intelligence branch is capable of producing with a great degree of certainty, and conversely, what kind of assessment it should not be asked to produce. Based on the intelligence failure of the Yom Kippur War, this book also reviews possible organisational changes and methodological improvements to guard as much as possible against surprise attacks in the future, relevant not only to Israel's circumstances but to all countries with enemies capable of launching an attack. Published in association with the Institute for National Strategic Studies.Table of ContentsIntroduction; Israel's Security Concept & the Intelligence Concept; Arab Military Preparation for War Through the Intelligence Prism; Intelligence Assessment & the Decision Makers; The Mistakes & the failures; The Difficulties of Intelligence Work; Proposed Lessons; Index.

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Book SynopsisThis book is a detailed and original study of the creation of the province of Equatoria, located in present-day Southern Sudan. No detailed account has previously been published on the effort to conquer and create a new Egyptian province in the 1870s in the interior of Africa, despite its importance to the history of the on-going northsouth conflict in the Sudan. The annexation of Equatoria emerged from the Khedive (viceroy) Ismail's aspiration for an African empire that would control the source of the White Nile at Lake Victoria. At the time he was under pressure from the British government to suppress the lucrative slave trade in the Turco-Egyptian Sudan, and to this end the new province was to be under direct control of Cairo and not the authorities in Khartoum. The two conquering expeditions of Equatoria were led by Britons, Samuel Baker and Charles Gordon (later Governor-General of the Sudan). With them were other Europeans, Americans, Sudanese and Egyptians. Baker, Gordon and some of the others left detailed accounts of their experience in the region. All of which contribute to our knowledge not only of the difficulties involved in the annexation of a region thousands of kilometres from Cairo, but also geographical data and a record of the complex human relations that developed between the men involved in the expeditions, and the creation of the new province. Official documents from the Egyptian state archive, Dar al-Wathaiq, provide detailed accounts of the politics of the annexation of Equatoria, and these accounts are discussed in their historical context.

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Book SynopsisWhile the conflicts and national aspirations in British mandatory Palestine in particular and the Middle East in general were evident before the outbreak of the Second World War, the war itself accelerated and enhanced national expectations and presented continuing tactical and strategic dilemmas to British, Arab and Jewish leaders. British strategic policy during the war failed to provide answers to the political issues of the growing national demands in Palestine, and led to severe distrust of British policy among Arabs and Jews, as the two communities were framing mostly opposing reactions to wartime developments, and to conflicting expectations and policies towards post-war solutions for Palestine. The aim of this work is to analyse the continual development of strategic plans and political dilemmas that arose during the war period, which led to the subsequent post-war circumstance where American and Soviet involvement impacted on the strategic thinking of all involved parties, notwithstanding the British military victory. Analysis includes: the pre-war British strategic situation in Palestine, and the war events in Palestine and its Middle East neighbour countries (at the military-strategic level and the repercussions of the outcome of the war for the local Palestinian population). At the heart of the discussion lies British interests and policies framed towards Jews and Arabs; analysis of the two communities' conflicting interests and policies; and the resultant sea-change in the establishment of the Jewish state which brought in its wake the emergence of a New Middle East.

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Book SynopsisDuring the darkest days of the Second World War a select group of people gathered together in Mayfair to listen to a series of secret lectures organised by the Royal Central Asian Society (now the Royal Society for Asian Affairs). Lecturers and their hand-picked audience examined fast-moving events in the Middle East, Persia and Russia with the intention to propose strategies for Britain's post-war international role. The lecturers were chosen for their inside knowledge of these countries: a British General who had visited Russia's front-line held against the German invasion; an RAF officer who was in Iraq during the pro-German coup by Rashid Ali, and the subsequent defence of the Habbaniya air base; a Persian-speaking British diplomat stationed in Teheran; a Mancunian of Lebanese descent who spoke frankly about Arab hopes and fears; a Home Officer advisor sent to Moscow to inspect its fire-watching arrangements; and a Polish countess forcibly transported to a collective farm in Siberia, among others. Secrecy surrounded these lectures many of the scripts were marked 'Secret' or 'Confidential'; they were not published in the Society's Journal, and the audience was warned not to reveal the topics discussed outside the Clarges Street premises. The discussions which followed the lectures were held in the knowledge that frank views could be freely expressed, and are included in this volume. Although so much has changed in the international arena, these seventy-year old lectures, only recently rediscovered in the Society's Archives, have a peculiar poignancy and relevance in understanding today's unquiet Middle East and how war-time events and strategies were to shape post-war policy with regard to Arab nationalism and Arab unity.

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Book SynopsisThe Yom Kippur War was a watershed moment in Israeli society and a national trauma whose wounds have yet to heal some four decades later. In the years following the war many studies addressed the internal and international political background prior to the war, attempting to determine causes and steps by political players and parties in Israel, Egypt and the United States. But to date there has been no comprehensive study based on archival materials and other primary sources. Classified documents from that period have recently become available and it is now possible to examine in depth a crucial period in Middle East history generally and Israeli history in particular. The authors provide a penetrating and insightful viewpoint on the question that lies at the heart of the Israeli polity and military: Was an opportunity missed to prevent the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War? The book provides surprising answers to long-standing issues: How did National Security Adviser, Henry Kissinger, succeed in torpedoing the efforts of the State Department to bring about an interim agreement between Israel and Egypt in 1971?; Would that agreement have allowed Israel to hold on to most of the Sinai Peninsula for many years and at the same time avert the outbreak of the war; Did Golda Meir reject any diplomatic initiative that came up for discussion in the years preceding the war?; Was the White House's Middle East policy throughout 1973 a catalyst for war breaking out?

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Book SynopsisThe reform movements and attempts to establish parliamentary institutions in the Persian Gulf states of Kuwait, Bahrain and Dubai between the First World War and the independent era of the 1970s were not inspired by western example or by any tradition of civil representation. The move to a parliamentary system not only represented a milestone in the history of the region, creating a legacy for future generations, but was a unique transition in the Arab world. The transformation of these states from loose chiefdoms of minimal coherence and centralization, into centralizing and institutionalized monarchies, involved the setting up of primary institutions of government, the demarcation of borders, and establishment of a monarchical order. As this new political and social order evolved, ideas of national struggle and national rights penetrated Gulf societies. Gulf citizens who had spent time in Arab states, mostly in Egypt and Iraq, took part in the genesis of a public Arab-Gulf national discourse, enabling the Gulf population to become acquainted with national struggles for independence. As a result merchants of notable families, newly educated elements, and even workers, began to oppose the dominance of the rulers. Both the rulers and the commercial elites (including members of the ruling families) tried to formulate a new and different social contract with the rulers seeking to entrench their political power by using new administrative means and financial power. Opposition against this current crystallized in 1938 among the ranks of the commercial oligarchy as well as within the ruling families. In spite of its failure to create its own political institutions, the oligarchy remained the foremost social and economic class. But the ruling families could no longer treat national oil revenues as their private income, and they began to channel part of these funds to public needs. The most important consequence of the '1938' movement was the formation of a new social contract between the two traditional power centers: the governing structures were fitted into the political and economic reality brought about by the oil wealth, but remained essentially tribal and committed to the power division between the major Gulf families.

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Book SynopsisT. E. Lawrence (of Arabia) described his war-time chief as "the perfect leader", a man who "worked by influence rather than by loud direction. He was like water, or permeating oil, creeping silently and insistently through everything. It was not possible to say where Clayton was and was not, and how much really belonged to him". This is the first biography of General Sir Gilbert Clayton (1875-1929), Britain's pre-eminent "man-on-the-spot" during the formative years of the modern Middle East. Serving as a soldier, administrator and diplomat in ten different Middle Eastern countries during a 33-year Middle Eastern career, Clayton is best known as the Director of British Intelligence in Cairo during the Great War (1914-16), and as the instigator and sponsor of the Arab Revolt against the Turks. Dedicated to the preservation of Britain's Middle Eastern empire, Clayton came to realize that in the transformed post-war world Britain could ill afford to control all aspects of the emerging nation-states in the region. In his work as adviser to the Egyptian government (1919-22), he advocated internal autonomy for the Egyptians, while asserting Britain's vital imperial interests in the country. As chief administrator in Palestine (1923-5), he sought to reconcile the Arabs to Britain's national home policy for the Jews, and, at the same time, to solidify Britain's position as Mandatory power. In Arabia, Clayton negotiated the first post-war treaties with the emerging power of Ibn Saud, (1925, 1927), but curtailed his designs on the British Mandates in Iraq and Transjordan. And, in Iraq, where Clayton served as High Commissioner (1929), he backed Iraq's independence within the framework of the British Empire.Trade ReviewFor students of Sudanese history, the main interest of Pariss magisterial biography of Clayton may lie in discovering the influence his apprenticeship in the affairs of the Sudan had on his later career. Students of the history of the wider Middle East will derive new insights from the long formative period of a career that has until now hardly been considered in analyses of the Arab Bureau, the Hijaz campaign, Mandatory Palestine and the rise of Saudi Arabia. -M. W. Daly

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Book SynopsisShaykh Yusuf Yassin (18921962) marked the contemporary history of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in his capacity as a favorite advisor who was the founder monarchs confidential secretary, relentless envoy and chief foreign policy consultant. Born in Latakiyyah, Syria, Yassin earned the confidence of King Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud, and moved to Riyadh even before the Third Saudi Kingdom was inaugurated in 1932. After obtaining citizenship he participated in critical decisions reached by the ruler as regional and international actors honed in on the wealth of the Arabian Peninsula. Over the course of several decades Yusuf Yassin met with and negotiated on behalf of three monarchs, Abdul Aziz and his two successors, Saud and Faysal, with Arab and global leaders. He was present at the creation of the country and suggested that al-Saudiyyah be added to its very nameAl-Mamlakah al-Arabiyyah al-Saudiyyahwhich reflected his personality and political outlook as an Arab nationalist who cherished the founder. Joseph Kechichian has written the first political biography of the statesman, based on original documents [the Yassin Papers] as well as Western diplomatic correspondence. Kechichian provides insights into the Nationalist Al Saud Advisor who left his mark on Saudi Arabia. The volume provides essential background on a man who rose from humble origins in Syria to espouse Arabian values, and walks the reader through nearly five decades of Arab history, including the repercussions of the infamous 1916 SykesPicot Agreement, the creation of the League of Arab States, and various Arab crises. These events, experienced and engaged with by Shaykh Yusuf Yassin at the highest political and diplomatic levels, set the stage that empowered Saudi Arabia, along with other Arab States, with the wherewithal to succeed for their respective peoples.

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Book SynopsisDrawing on an ethnographic study in a multicultural city of Arabs and Jews in Israel, this book examines the models and expressions of power implicated in discourse and conflict resolution practices in cross cultural contemporary community. The author explores community politics expressed in daily life as a contextual background to the analysis of conflict resolution politics, exploring perspectives of state and civic stakeholders. Through case analysis, and addressing the individual, organisational and societal levels, Dr Li-On illustrates that conflict resolution is dominated by politics, with culture, ethnicity, and identity playing a significant role; disputing groups rely on conflict resolution to achieve contesting socio-political goals. The book explores core concerns in the field, illustrating obstacles, challenges and opportunities confronting informal justice in contemporary communities. Informal Justice in Contemporary Society is motivated by the field's research-practice gap and the lack of real world impact research in cross-cultural settings. The book contributes insights towards theory refinement and conflict resolution practice by addressing practical issues confronted by mediators in the field. This innovative research path introduces a holistic approach to the study of informal justice in social context, deploying multilevel ethnographic analysis to broaden the perspectives and understanding of conflict resolution in contemporary communities. Locally, it provides insights into conflict resolution in Israel in a mixed city of Arabs and Jews. This book belongs on the reference shelf of essential reading for educators, researchers and practitioners in conflict resolution and social studies, including anthropological, community, legal and cultural fields.

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Book SynopsisEli Ben Amram's correspondence, discovered in the Genizah of Cairo, consists of his communications with Jewish figures from Egypt, Palestine, Babylon and Spain. As the Fustat community leader during the second half of the eleventh century his writings reveal not only the political situation pertaining to the Mediterranean Basin at the time, but are unique with regard to how Jewish society fared and functioned. He was a determined writer in that he expressed himself well on many topics and wrote up his plans for his community, as well as his reservations, in dozens of letters, court documents and poems, all of which were revealed in the Genizah. Although not a senior Jewish leader, he was head of the Fustat community in Egypt -- the most important in the Jewish hemisphere during the eleventh century. He had been appointed by higher-ranked leaders, such as the Gaon from the Palestine Yeshiva, and by wealthy Jewish courtiers from Cairo. Ben Amram's local decision-making was dependent in some ways on the policies adopted by these leaders, but in turn they were aware of his key role and influence as leader of the wealthy Fustat community. His wide-ranging correspondence sheds light not only on Jewish leadership at this time, but on the prevailing circumstances under which Judaism was able to flourish. Eli Ben Amram's correspondence reveals that despite geo-political differences, there were substantive similarities among the Jewish communities of the Mediterranean Basin during early-medieval period.

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Book SynopsisThis book is a case study in the literary, psychoanalytic, and theological encounters between diasporic Muslim intellectuals and secular western modernity. It centres on the simultaneous search for the possibility of both a reformation of Islamic fundamentalism and a transformation of the exclusionary limitations of western public institutions. With roots in original research in the fields of comparative religion and cultural studies, and drawing on sources in English, French, and Arabic, the author introduces and elaborates the concept of "Western-Islamic public sphere". This concept defines what is at stake in the formative play of public representations where traditionalist foundations and modernist adaptations meet, clash, and produce discourse around their common disequilibrium. The Western-Islamic public sphere (which is secular but not secularist and which is Islamic but not Islamist), within which a critical Islamic intellectual universe can unfold, deals hermeneutically with texts and politically with lived practices. It emerges from within the arc of two alternative, conflicting, yet equally dismissive suspicions defined by a view that critical Islam is the new imperial rhetoric of hegemonic orientalism and the opposite view that critical Islam is just fundamentalism camouflaged in liberal rhetoric. This innovative and original scholarly apparatus offers a third view -- one that arises in its practice from ethical commitment to intellectual engagement, creativity, and imagination as a portal to the open horizons of conflictual history.

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Book SynopsisIn the aftermath of popular uprisings that unleashed the quest for freedom, Arab governments scrambled to limit sectarian divisions, though much of these efforts came to naught. Regrettably, weak governments fell into carefully laid traps, aimed to divide and rule. Protracted wars further destroyed Arab wealth and cohesiveness, and Sunni communities saw their power bases marginalised. On cue, and predicted by some commentators, extremist movements like the so-called Islamic State emerged, targeting Sunnis with extreme violence. In 2014 Nabil Khalife, an established Lebanese thinker, published a widely praised thesis that identified the root causes of renewed sectarian tensions at a time when confrontations polarised awakened Arab societies. Based on an extensive discussion of the 1979 Iranian Revolution that toppled the Shah, Khalife advanced the notion that the revolution was not Islamic but an Iranian-Shiah rebellion that ended the Pahlavi military monarchy, and that the post-2011 Sunni-Shiah struggle was planned by leading Western powers, including Russia, to preserve Israel and impose the latters acceptance in the Middle East as a natural element. In this translation of Istihdaf Ahl al-Sunna [Targeting Sunnis], Joseph A. Kechichian analyses the fundamental questions raised by the author to better place the current sectarian collision in a geo-strategic global perspective. Based on the books avowals of how the worlds three monotheistic religions perceive each other and Political Sunnism, Kechichian assesses Henry Kissinger's famous appellation of the Middle World that houses significant and indispensable oil resources, and why that allegedly makes it -- Political Sunnism -- dangerous. In a comprehensive introduction to the translation, he describes various initiatives that led global powers to check the undeniable force of Political Sunnism.

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Book SynopsisIn the aftermath of popular uprisings that unleashed the quest for freedom, Arab governments scrambled to limit sectarian divisions, though much of these efforts came to naught. Regrettably, weak governments fell into carefully laid traps, aimed to divide and rule. Protracted wars further destroyed Arab wealth and cohesiveness, and Sunni communities saw their power bases marginalised. On cue, and predicted by some commentators, extremist movements like the so-called Islamic State emerged, targeting Sunnis with extreme violence. In 2014 Nabil Khalife, an established Lebanese thinker, published a widely praised thesis that identified the root causes of renewed sectarian tensions at a time when confrontations polarised awakened Arab societies. Based on an extensive discussion of the 1979 Iranian Revolution that toppled the Shah, Khalife advanced the notion that the revolution was not Islamic but an Iranian-Shiah rebellion that ended the Pahlavi military monarchy, and that the post-2011 Sunni-Shiah struggle was planned by leading Western powers, including Russia, to preserve Israel and impose the latters acceptance in the Middle East as a natural element. In this translation of Istihdaf Ahl al-Sunna [Targeting Sunnis], Joseph A. Kechichian analyses the fundamental questions raised by the author to better place the current sectarian collision in a geo-strategic global perspective. Based on the books avowals of how the worlds three monotheistic religions perceive each other and Political Sunnism, Kechichian assesses Henry Kissinger's famous appellation of the Middle World that houses significant and indispensable oil resources, and why that allegedly makes it -- Political Sunnism -- dangerous. In a comprehensive introduction to the translation, he describes various initiatives that led global powers to check the undeniable force of Political Sunnism.

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Book SynopsisThe first ever biography of Dr Charles Lewis Meryon (17831877), born in Rye (Sussex), physician to Lady Hester Stanhope and companion on her travels on various different occasions (to Malta, Greece, Turkey, Egypt and the Lebanon) during which he met Lord Byron, the Pasha of Egypt, and famed traveller Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, among many other characters and personalities; he was shipwrecked, attacked by pirates and lost for several days in the desert, in addition to living numerous other adventures; he was the father of tormented French artist Charles Meryon (the artist's mother's unrequited love for his father is told by means of their original correspondence), author of the two three-volume sets, The Memoirs of the Lady Hester Stanhope and The Travels of the Lady Hester Stanhope, translator (Meryon mastered various languages both ancient and modern); poet, and revolutionary politician in his home town of Rye. The biography also includes an edition of his poem 'Tis all my Eye' and 'Betty Martin,' of which only five copies were ever printed. The last remaining copy in the UK was destroyed in the bombing of London in the Second World War, and the work was believed to be lost forever, but the last surviving copy was recently unearthed in Canada. The biography is a companion volume to the newly discovered Additional Memoirs of Lady Hester Stanhope: An Unpublished Historical Account for the Years 1819-1820, as recorded by her physician Charles Lewis Meryon, edited with an introduction by Mark Guscin.

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Book SynopsisThis book examines the role of Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703-1792) and his successors in reconsolidating the religious principles of Wahhabism. It explains the role of the Saudi princes in crystallizing the core of the SaudiWahhabi political entity within their tribal society. Key to this explanation is the interrelation between sedentary and nomadic populations and the consequent impact on the development of Saudi political entities prior to the emergence of the Saudi Kingdom. Texts of Wahhabi scholars are compared with those of the early Hanbali scholars, pinpointing the new religious elements introduced to foster the Wahhabi creed. Discussion focuses on the first and second generations of Wahhabi scholars who maintained the Wahhabi creed with great success, keeping its hegemony as the main doctrine in Saudi Arabia, and developing a takfiri discourse (accusing people of being infidels) which by the nineteenth century had become the main religious and political weapon by which the Wahhabis mobilized supporters against their political and religious adversaries. To better understand this development, the meaning of kufr (heresy) in Islam and its implications in various Islamic doctrines is examined closely. The focus on the role of Wahhabi scholars in the nineteenth century sheds new lights on the principles of continuity and discontinuity in the historical development of Saudi political entities and explains the origin of the modern Saudi State. Although major socio-economic and cultural change is now taking place under the leadership of Prince Muhammad ibn Salman, the main religious structures of the state remain firmly in place. It remains to be seen how two diametric societal viewpoints will integrate or clash. This work is essential reading for all scholars and students of religious, cultural, social and political history of Saudi Arabia and Islam in the Middle East.

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Book SynopsisCombined arms warfare (CAW) -- the integration of different arms on the battlefield (e.g., armor, infantry, artillery, aircraft, and engineers) in order to achieve maximal efficiency there -- is as old as war itself. Every army across both time and space that has engaged in combat has practiced one version or another of CAW, whether consciously or otherwise. The Israel Defenxse Forces (IDF) has been no exception to the rule. This book traces the Israeli experience with CAW from the countrys War of Independence in 194749 (against a coalition of Arab states) through Operation Protective Edge in 2014 (against a coalition of Hamas-led terrorist/insurgent groups). It describes and analyzes the IDFs practice of CAW in each interstate war (IW), asymmetrical war (AW), and low-intensity conflict (LIC) that Israel has fought since the countrys establishment in the mid-twentieth century. The book also highlights the Israeli approach to CAW in respect of special operations (SPEC OPS). With no end in sight to the ArabIsraeli conflict, and with further hostilities between Israel and its neighbors virtually assured in the future, Combined Arms Warfare in Israeli Military History constitutes an essential addition to the literature about Middle Eastern warfare. This book is aimed primarily at the academic and research community, but it is fully accessible to anyone with an interest in Israeli military history.Trade Review"...an excellent new book assessing Israeli military strategy from 1948 through to Operation Protective Edge in 2014. Attempting to test the thesis that the Israeli military is at its most effective when embracing a combined arms approach to its operations, this book convincingly supports it, with Rodman making it apparent that Israel's relatively few military failures stemmed from an overreliance on armoured forces, or aerial bombardments, i.e. the early stages of the Yom Kippur War, and Second Lebanon War.... More accessible than many other books analysing military doctrine and strategy, Rodman has made an excellent effort at demystifying the IDF's almost mystical prestige, and distilled clear lessons other militaries would do well to follow." - Daniel J. Levy, Times of Israel Jan 2019

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Book SynopsisOttoman Turkeys decision to ally with Germany in the First World War led directly to the British (and French) conquest of the Middle East and sealed the fate of Palestine. In a monstrous betrayal of its people, 93 percent of them Arab, the November 1917 Balfour Declaration withheld the independence they rightly anticipated and for strategic reasons earmarked Palestine as a National Home for the Jewish People. Ronald Storrs, a British Foreign and Colonial Office official, remarked that The U.K. proposed to hand (Palestine), without consulting the occupants, to a third party; and what sort of third party! The result was the foundation of Israel in 1948. Through ethnic cleansing and massacre the new state drove out helpless Palestinian victims of Perfidious Albion, in whom London at no stage showed the slightest interest. They were condemned to seventy years in refugee camps or to second-class citizenship of Israel as, in the words of an Israeli Foreign Minister, the land-grab state was born in sin. Credit for this shameful act is generally given to the Zionist supporters of Theodore Hertzl. But Britain cleared the way by expelling the Mufti of Jerusalem, the Palestinians only leader, providing the Zionists, who extraordinarily made concurrent overtures to Hitler and Mussolini, with military training in Britains Second World War campaigns in Iraq and Syria. Itself ejected by its ungrateful protege, Britain lost all the aims of its Declaration (no base to guard the Suez Canal, no Haifa port, no railway to Iraq and no oil pipeline) and all its prestige in the Arab World.

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Book SynopsisCombined arms warfare (CAW) -- the integration of different arms on the battlefield (e.g., armor, infantry, artillery, aircraft, and engineers) in order to achieve maximal efficiency there -- is as old as war itself. Every army across both time and space that has engaged in combat has practiced one version or another of CAW, whether consciously or otherwise. The Israel Defenxse Forces (IDF) has been no exception to the rule. This book traces the Israeli experience with CAW from the countrys War of Independence in 194749 (against a coalition of Arab states) through Operation Protective Edge in 2014 (against a coalition of Hamas-led terrorist/insurgent groups). It describes and analyzes the IDFs practice of CAW in each interstate war (IW), asymmetrical war (AW), and low-intensity conflict (LIC) that Israel has fought since the countrys establishment in the mid-twentieth century. The book also highlights the Israeli approach to CAW in respect of special operations (SPEC OPS). With no end in sight to the ArabIsraeli conflict, and with further hostilities between Israel and its neighbors virtually assured in the future, Combined Arms Warfare in Israeli Military History constitutes an essential addition to the literature about Middle Eastern warfare. This book is aimed primarily at the academic and research community, but it is fully accessible to anyone with an interest in Israeli military history.Trade Review"...an excellent new book assessing Israeli military strategy from 1948 through to Operation Protective Edge in 2014. Attempting to test the thesis that the Israeli military is at its most effective when embracing a combined arms approach to its operations, this book convincingly supports it, with Rodman making it apparent that Israel's relatively few military failures stemmed from an overreliance on armoured forces, or aerial bombardments, i.e. the early stages of the Yom Kippur War, and Second Lebanon War.... More accessible than many other books analysing military doctrine and strategy, Rodman has made an excellent effort at demystifying the IDF's almost mystical prestige, and distilled clear lessons other militaries would do well to follow." - Daniel J. Levy, Times of Israel Jan 2019

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Book SynopsisThis book examines the role of Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703-1792) and his successors in reconsolidating the religious principles of Wahhabism. It explains the role of the Saudi princes in crystallizing the core of the SaudiWahhabi political entity within their tribal society. Key to this explanation is the interrelation between sedentary and nomadic populations and the consequent impact on the development of Saudi political entities prior to the emergence of the Saudi Kingdom. Texts of Wahhabi scholars are compared with those of the early Hanbali scholars, pinpointing the new religious elements introduced to foster the Wahhabi creed. Discussion focuses on the first and second generations of Wahhabi scholars who maintained the Wahhabi creed with great success, keeping its hegemony as the main doctrine in Saudi Arabia, and developing a takfiri discourse (accusing people of being infidels) which by the nineteenth century had become the main religious and political weapon by which the Wahhabis mobilized supporters against their political and religious adversaries. To better understand this development, the meaning of kufr (heresy) in Islam and its implications in various Islamic doctrines is examined closely. The focus on the role of Wahhabi scholars in the nineteenth century sheds new lights on the principles of continuity and discontinuity in the historical development of Saudi political entities and explains the origin of the modern Saudi State. Although major socio-economic and cultural change is now taking place under the leadership of Prince Muhammad ibn Salman, the main religious structures of the state remain firmly in place. It remains to be seen how two diametric societal viewpoints will integrate or clash. This work is essential reading for all scholars and students of religious, cultural, social and political history of Saudi Arabia and Islam in the Middle East.

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Book SynopsisThe book uses papers released from Israeli, British and US State Department archives -- which demonstrate the thinking behind the diplomatic moves relating to the western powers' commitment to Jordan and the pro-Nasser policy of the Kennedy administration. The book examines Israeli efforts to preserve the stability of the Jordanian monarchy under king Hussein, as well as the territorial status quo between Israel and Jordan, in terms of the manoeuvrings of powerful factions in Israel to take advantage of the crisis so as to make territorial gains.Table of ContentsDevelopment of the "Pro-Nasser" Policy; Major Characteristics of Nasser's Regime; The Western Powers and Jordan; The April-May 1963 Crisis; Development of the Crisis; Diplomatic Activity of the Ambassadors; Israel and the April-May 1963 Crisis; Israel and Jordan -- From Crisis to Peace; Index.

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Book SynopsisAn analysis of the demographic and socioeconomic developments in Syria during the late twentieth centuryTable of ContentsSources for Syrian demographic trends and development; population growth - natural increase, mortality rates and life expectancy, marriage and divorce, economic consequences of high rates of natural increase, contraceptive use; the spatial distribution of the population - rural-to-urban migration, economic consequences of the rapid urbanization process); Syrian migration abroad; demographic policies of the Syrian authorities; demography - economy and political change under Asad.

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Book SynopsisThe first book to deal primarily with Ben-Gurion's strategic-political perceptions and his images of Israel, the Arab world, and their mutual realtions

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Book SynopsisThis book attempts to integrate present controversies concerning the development of the Jewish-Palestinian war from December 1947 to mid-May 1948 and the consecutive Israeli-Arab war.Trade Review"Yoav Gelber's contribution to the literature on 1948 is useful for its detailed chronology of Israels most significant and triumphal campaign against the Arabs... The books value lies in its shedding light on the loose alliances unfolding in the Middle East." -- Studies in Contemporary Jewry, Oxford University Press.Table of ContentsContents: Introduction; The Outbreak and the Expansion of Hostilities; The Palestinians' Organisation for War; The Arab League's Intervention; Shaping the Yishuv's War Policy; The Beginnings of the Palestinians' Mass-Flight; From a Civil War to Regular Warfare; Palestinian Society's Collapse; The Arab Regular Armies' Invasion of Palestine; Fighting and Flight after the Invasion; The Ten-Day Campaign and the Second Truce; The Palestinians' Decay; Diplomacy and Intrigues; Operations in the Negev; The End of the War with Lebanon and Syria; Ending the War with Egypt and Transjordan; Welcoming the Refugees in the Arab States; From Flight to Refugeeism: Blocking the Return; Epilogue.

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Book SynopsisThis book uncovers the true force behind most of the political processes in the Middle East over almost half a century. Through constant confrontations and negotiations with Israel and the Palestinians, under the watchful eye of the United States, the King managed to create a new Middle Eastern nation-state: the Jordanian country and its people. The focus of the book is Hussein's deep concern for the future of the last Hashemite monarchy, together with his own set of personal and ideological convictions, as they impacted on many of his strategic decisions and their contribution to the formation of present-day Jordan.Trade Review"This book, written by a former adviser on Arab affairs to the prime minister of Israel, is a detailed and highly laudatory account of the policies pursued by King Hussein of Jordan from 1963 until his death in 1999. Bligh argues that, contrary to conventional wisdom, Hussein 'was one of the main figures shaping the fate of the Middle East since the 1960s' -- Recommended." -- Choice."The Political Legacy of King Hussein is probably the first serious book published after the untimely demise of the Jordanian monarch that sums up his political activity and heritage. In this richly documented and well written study, Dr. Bligh describes and analyses King Hussein's survival strategy in the last four decades of the 20th century, i.e., the late king's efforts to ensure the survival of both the Hashemite dynasty and Jordan itself." -- Middle East Journal.Table of ContentsContents: Foreword by Robert B. Satloff; Introduction; The Hashemite-Palestinian Crisis of April 1963; The Israeli-Jordanian Military Confrontation of November 1966: A Prelude to the 1967 War; Jordan in the 1967 War: A Political Victory which Guaranteed the Survival of the Kingdom; Jordanian Composite Nationalism; Is Peace Without the Territories Possible? Hussein's Reading of the Palestinian Issue between the Six Day War and UN Resolution; The Israeli and Palestinian Challenge; The 1970s: From a Survival Struggle to the Consolidation of Political Success; The Palestinian Decade and the Final Closing of the West Bank Issue; From the Gulf War to Peace, and the Road to Democracy; Conclusion; Index.

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Book SynopsisDiscusses the Druze in the Middle East in general, with a particular focus of the Druze relationship with the State of Israel. Part I -- Faiths, Commandments, and the Life-Cycle -- deals with practical religious commandments, religious rights and ceremonies, and the life-cycle of the individual. Original material is presented that places the Druze unequivocally as members of an independent faith with their own unique identity. Part II -- Spiritual Leadership and Community Organisation -- treats the spiritual leadership in various countries of the Middle East throughout their history. This leadership is of great importance in administering the life of the Druze community. Part III -- Population, Society, and Identity in Israel -- discusses the role of family, society, and religious identity, and the changes in attitudes that have taken place in recent generations. Part IV -- Laws of Personal Status -- is an analysis of the laws of personal status of individuals, and of the implementation of these laws in practice in the Druze religious courts.Trade Review"This is an especially accessible guide to Druze belief, ritual practice, ethnography, and history... The author has collected excellent demographic material on the Israel community and provides a clear and concise analysis of its social structure and struggle with change... This important little volume is arguably the best introduction currently available in English... Essential." -- Social & Behavioral Sciences.Table of ContentsContents: Faith, commandments and the life-cycle; spiritual leadership and community organization; population, society and identity in Israel; laws of personal status.

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Book SynopsisIsrael & the Post-Zionists - A Nation at RiskTrade Review"Offers a rightist critique of post-Zionism. All the contributions are interesting and insightful... as Yoav Gelber notes in his very perceptive contribution, the genuine danger lies in subtle and widespread 'post-Zionist' trends in society." -- Israel Affairs."Professor Sharan claims that the luxury of denigrating one's country and demanding that the current regime should be dismantled is possible in an established Western democracy. However, Israel is a country fighting for its existence, and this sort of movement can cause tremendous damage... The participants do not mince their words. Raya Epstein, for example, talks of the dangers of 'totalitarian democracy', where anybody who is not 'politically correct' has no right to express his / her opinions. Hillel Weiss describes 'post-Zionism' as a pathology. The book includes examples of Israeli anti-Semitic cartoons. Norman Dodge writes a useful essay on Western democracy's reactions to Arafat... The collection is unusual. It is avowedly politically incorrect. But it offers the student of Israeli affairs a different viewpoint from that of most Israeli publications." -- AJL Newsletter."The authors believe that the writings and activities of the post-Zionists have greatly weakened Israel at home and abroad. They aver that post-Zionist thinking and activity (particularly in the academy and the media) not only work an insidious influence on the ability of Israelis to persevere in the face of the terror war, but provide aid and comfort to anti-Semites of Arab and non-Arab backgrounds. These are not easy times, and the book's assertion of foreboding danger confirms this. Most of the time, however, the authors stay true to their scholarly backgrounds. They examine the behavior of post-Zionist thought from its origins in anti-Zionist politics of the late 19th century and early 20th centuries through the current days of the second Intifadah. They seek to find the movement's confreres in the Frankfurt School of neo-Marxism and to place it within the context of a world tendency toward political correctness and post-Nationalism. Mostly, they strive to demonstrate the disingenuousness and danger that the post-Zionists present to Israel and its survival in a hostile world." -- Jewish Book World."Chapters develop a serious and balanced critique of post-Zionist arguments for a multi-national, multi-religious and multicultural state." -- The Australian Jewish News.Table of ContentsContents: Introduction; Redefining the Israeli Ethos: Transforming Israeli Society; Zionism, the Post-Zionists and Myth; Israeli Intellectuals and Israeli Politics; The Frankfurt School and Post-Zionist Thought; The Leftist Media and the al-Aqsa Uprising; Post-Zionism and Democracy; The Future of the Ideological Civil War Within the West; The West and Yasser Arafat; Israeli Anti-Semitism; Post-Zionism and Anti-Zionism in Israeli Literature; The Messianic Theme in the Works of A. B. Yehoshua and Amos Oz; Pluralism, the Post-Zionists, and Israel as a Jewish Nation; Subject Index.

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Book SynopsisThis fascinating tour of the Jewish communities of the Ottoman Middle East, on the eve of the changes that would come to unsettle the Ottoman territories, reveals a surprisingly varied world. Visiting Istanbul, Damascus, Acre, Jerusalem, Aleppo, Basra, and Cairo, we see different landscapes, meet diverse Jewish societies, and encounter the range of their economic activities. We also see how Christians and Jews struggled with each other to establish their position in the Muslim world and secure their livelihood. In the process, the author reconsiders fundamental questions. What is a ‘diaspora’? To what extent did the surrounding culture impact the Jewish communities of the area? And, most interestingly, how did these communities respond to the onset of modernity? Though relating to Jewish society in its entirety, the main focus is on its most powerful members: the notables, who were close to the ruling elite or involved in international trade. Tsur discusses their strengths and weaknesses, considers the relationship between their position and that of the rest of the Jewish community, and analyses their eventual downfall. His study offers new insights into the social mechanisms that enabled them to establish close ties with the ruling elite and to function within it.Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Note on Transliteration Maps Introduction 1. Istanbul: The Ottoman Capital ** 1. The Ruling Class 2. The Urban Landscape 3. Christians, Jews, and Muslims 4. Jewish Diasporas and Other Networks 5. The Missing Judaeo-Arabic Space 6. Ottoman Culture and Jewish Liturgical Poetry 7. Ordinary Jews through the Prism of Jewish Court Records 8. The Powerful Notables 9. Jewish Notables in Times of Crisis **2. Damascus, Acre, Jerusalem 1. The Farhis 2. The Ottoman Jewish Network of Notables 3. Jerusalem: The Community versus the Askerî Jews 4. Jewish Life in Muslim Court Records 5. Damascus 3. Aleppo ** 1. The Francos 2. Aleppo’s Segmented Society 3. Social Segmentation and Budding Imperialism 4. The Francos as Port Jews 5. The Rise of the Picciottos **4. The Iraqi Province ** 1. The ‘Wild East’ 2. Basra 3. Blood Libel in Reverse 4. Baghdad: The Fate of the Notables and the Community 5. The Diaspora from Baghdad to the Far East **5. Egypt ** 1. Cairo 2. Jewish Customs Officials 3. A Segmented Society? 4. Notables and Rabbis 5. The Downfall of the Notables **6. The Holy Land ** 1. Hida’s Travels among the Bedouins 2. Changes in the North of Palestine 3. The Aftermath of Hayim Farhi’s Murder **Epilogue 1. Askerî Jews 2. The ‘Castrated’ or ‘Gelded’ Elite 3. Port Jews 4. Hida and Other Learned Individuals 5. Signs of the Times Glossary Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThis is a book of unexpected drama: all eleven chief rabbis appointed in this period of unprecedented change in the Jewish communities of the Fertile Crescent became the subject of controversy and were subsequently dismissed. This took place against a background of events rarely discussed in the context of Jewish society: crime, hooliganism, slander, power struggles, sexual promiscuity, and even assaults and assassination attempts on rabbis. Using a wide range of testimonies gleaned from Ottoman Jewish, Arabic, and European sources, Yaron Harel paints a colourful picture of these upheavals set firmly in the social and political context of the time and far removed from the commonly accepted image of Jewish communities in the Ottoman empire. Jews were also affected by modernization and political conflict in the wider society of the time, and these too gave rise to power struggles. The chief rabbis were at the forefront of these confrontations, especially those that resulted from the new inclination towards Western culture. Most of them recognized that the challenges of modernization had to be met, although in a way that did not endanger religious principles. Their openness to change stemmed from a concern for the future of the communities for which they were responsible, but they were often vociferously opposed by those who were free from such responsibility. The communal politics that ensued were sometimes heated to the point of violence. In the latter years of the empire, many Jews came to support the Young Turks, with their promise of liberty and equality for all. The atmosphere of the time was such that rabbis had to develop political awareness and engage in Ottoman politics. This was another source of tension within the community since the new regime punished anyone suspected of opposition severely.This lively and fascinating study based on little-known sources offers a lens through which to view the Jewish society of the Ottoman empire at a time when all the traditional norms were being challenged.Trade ReviewReviews ‘Fascinating . . . Harel focuses on the main cities of the countries known today as Iraq and Syria, but the reader gains important knowledge and understanding of other regions as well, mainly Jerusalem and Turkey. The author thoroughly perused the available records of the period . . . Harel's mastery of rabbinical literature and its somewhat enigmatic language has enabled him to unearth a treasury of data which he successfully cross references with other historical records . . . The book is written in a clear language, analyzing the intricate histories of the rabbis of the three communities in chronological order, moving from city to city and from period to period deftly and seamlessly. The translation is fluid and engaging, not an easy task given the nature of the book and many rabbinic texts quoted. The author is to be commended for this thorough investigation of a period which has left an indelible mark on the religious life and practices of hundreds of thousands of Jews.' Haim Ovadia,Sephardic Horizons FROM REVIEWS OF THE HEBREW EDITION 'Harel's book is destined to become the fundamental starting point for research into many aspects of the Jewish communities it discusses, and of others too. It makes an outstanding contribution in at least four areas: the history of the three communities that are discussed and those which they were in contact; the multi-faceted nature of the rabbinate as an institution; Jewish identity and self-understanding; and the work of historian in the post-modern age . . . Harel's strength as a historian lies not only in how he uses his sources, but also in his ability both to ask stimulating new questions and to resolve them, thanks to the breadth of his knowledge, his intellectual honesty, and his empathy for the people about whom he is writing.' Nachem Ilan, Pe'amimTable of ContentsNote on TransliterationIntroductionPART I: Harbingers of Upheaval 1 The Failure of R. Sadkah Houssin’s Struggle for Control over the Baghdad Community 2 The Roots of the Struggle in Aleppo against the Inheritance of the Rabbinate by R. Raphael Shlomo Laniado PART II: The Rabbis of the Reform 3 The Saga of Hakham Raphael Kassin: From Hakham Bashi in Baghdad to Reform Rabbi in Aleppo 4 The Baghdad Community Torn between Rabbis Sassoon Samoha and Elisha Dangoor 5 Avraham Dweck Hacohen Khalousi: the last Hakham Bashi who was born in Aleppo 6 Rabbi Yitzhak Abulafia’s Difficult Path to the Rabbinic Office in Damascus 7 The Appointment and Deposition of Rabbi Yitzhak AbulafiaPART III: Rabbis of The Revolution 8 The Appointment and Removal of Rabbi Solomon Eliezer Mercado Alfandari in Damascus 9 Rabbi Yaakov Danon’s Appointment as Rabbi of Damascus and its Consequences 10 Rabbi Hezekiah Shabbetai’s Struggle against those who would depose him 11 The Removal of the Hakham Bashi of Baghdad, David Pappo, from his position by the Young Turks EpilogueGlossaryBibliography

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Book SynopsisThe word Armageddon conjures up images of fear and ultimate cataclysm. The bloody 4,000-year history of the Valley of Armageddon, today known as the Jezreel Valley, reinforces these beliefs. There is, however, another much quieter reality very much alive in the valley. Despite the history, the prophecy and the current unrest and warfare - there are people from both sides of the conflict who understand that we are capable of respecting one another with dignity. Israeli doctors treat patients who are dedicated to their destruction. Palestinian Muslims help Jews. These people are living testimony to the spirit of forgiveness and to the power of acceptance. These voices may represent the real ultimate conflict of Armageddon - the battle between the forces of good and evil within ourselves.Trade Review"The Emek Medical Center is indeed a beacon of humanity and dignity for the countless citizens struck by the cruel plague of terrorism. This is such a difficult and yet important subject matter, and I thank you for sharing it with me and revealing it to the public."-- Dan Gillerman, Israeli Ambassador to the UN

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