Avi Shlaim

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The Iron Wall

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Israel and the Arab World

Israel's conflict with the Palestinians, and the Arab world at large, casts a long shadow over her history. When 1920s Zionist leaders formulated the 'Iron Wall' strategy - negotiating from a position of unassailable strength - they intended that a stronger Israel would eventually be able to make peace with her Arab neighbours. This has been an elusive hope. 
 
Here, Shlaim explores the reasons for Israel's long reliance on military power in the absence of settlement. His analysis will bring scant comfort to partisans on either side, but it is required reading for anyone interested in this fascinating, troubled land.

Avi Shlaim's The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World is the outstanding book on Israeli foreign policy, now thoroughly updated with a new preface and chapters on Israel's most recent leaders 
 
In the 1920s, hard-line Zionists developed the doctrine of the 'Iron Wall': negotiations with the Arabs must always be from a position of military strength, and only when sufficiently strong Israel would be able to make peace with her Arab neighbours. 
 
This doctrine, argues Avi Shlaim, became central to Israeli policy; dissenters were marginalized and many opportunities to reconcile with Palestinian Arabs were lost. Drawing on a great deal of new material and interviews with many key participants, Shlaim places Israel's political and military actions under and uncompromising lens. 
 
His analysis will bring scant comfort to partisans on both sides, but it will be required reading for anyone interested in this fascinating and troubled region of the world. 
 
'The Iron Wall is strikingly fair-minded, scholarly, cogently reasoned and makes enthralling ... reading' Philip Ziegler, Daily Telegraph 
 
'Anyone wanting to understand the modern Middle East should start by reading this elegantly written and scrupulously researched book' Trevor Royle, Sunday Herald 
 
'A milestone in modern scholarship of the Middle East' Edward Said 
 
'Fascinating ... Shlaim presents compelling evidence for a revaluation of traditional Israeli history' Ethan Bronner, The New York Times Book Review 
 
Avi Shlaim is Professor of International Relations at St. Antony's College, Oxford. His previous books include Collusion Across the Jordan (1988) and War and Peace in the Middle East (1995).

Avi Shlaim was born in Baghdad and grew up in Israel. He is now a Professor of International Relations at St Antony's College, Oxford. His previous books include Collusion Across the Jordan (winner of the 1998 Political Studies Association's W.J.M. Mackenzie Prize); The Politics of Partition; War and Peace in the Middle East; Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World ('A milestone in modern scholarship of the Middle East' Edward Said); and Lion of Jordan.

The Iron Wall

Israel and the Arab World

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