The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World by Avi Shlaim

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The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World by Avi Shlaim

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By Israeli "New Historian" Avi Shlaim, this book traces the history of Israel's relations with the Arab world. Through the 1960's Shlaim had access to declassified Israeli records, a fact which shows in his more authoritative coverage of the period. Even beyond the period of available declassified material, however, Shlaim shows remarkable insight into the driving factors behind Israel's policies with the Arab world. The term "Iron Wall", made famous by revisionist Zionist leader Ze'ev Jabotinsky, is shown to be the bedrock of Israeli policy towards the Arab world throughout the state's history and to this very day. While both pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian readers will be able to find items to fault in this book, Shlaim has clearly written a well-researched and documented work that should serve as a basic text for readers wishing to better understand the Arab-Israeli conflict.