At the opening of the Geneva Peace Conference in December 1973, the American Secretary of State Dr. Henry Kissinger observed that, except for uneasy cease-fires and armistices, the Arab-Israeli conflict constituted one continued war that had already lasted 25 years. Despite the events that have taken place since that observation was made, Israel Defence Force, or IDF. The central theme of this book is the evolution of the modern Israeli Army, its organisation, doctrines, and special characteristics.

Written between 1968 and 1973, begun in the aftermath of a great victory and completed at a time of renewed war, this book is an attempt to explain the phenomenon of the Israeli Army. Though loosely chronological, this book is neither a history of the Israeli Army nor a history of Israel's wars. Its central focus is on the men and ideas that have shaped Israeli defense since the beginning. - Introduction.

Examines the status of the Israeli nation in the world today, maintaining that its own internal political and social problems combined with its involvement in the West Bank and Gaza have only complicated its long-term struggle for survival.

Insiders view of the Army of Israel, its structure, its men and women and its most memorable actions.

The question "Can Israel survive?" has echoed loud for Israelis -- and Jews, their supporters and adversaries worldwide -- since the Holocaust. The recent upheavals in Egypt, Tunisia and beyond have raised it anew. Israeli journalist and security analyst Hirsh Goodman set out to answer it, through rigorous factual assessment of each of the challenges his country faces, and by consulting experts and participants on all sides of every complex issue. But what he learned was that this once 'essential question' has become a dangerous distraction. In this provocative and deeply informed book, Goodman shares his clarifying analyses both of recent political events and of Israel's strategic position. He shows how the country's obsession with dangers posed by outside forces has obscured the harder issues facing it from within ever since its leaders disregarded Ben Gurion's advice to leave the territories captured during the Six Day War. By yoking itself to the demographic timebomb of the West Bank and Gaza, Israel propelled itself towards an invidious choice: democracy or Jewish identity. Now, Goodman argues, Israel's survival is jeopardized more by the competence of its leaders and fissures in its social and political system than by any outside threat -- even the apocalyptic-sounding ones from Iran.

Immigration - Israelske Frihedskrig 1947-48 - Jom Kippur - Yom - Haganah - Haifa - Galilæa - Negev - Hebron - Gaza - Sinaikrigen 1956 - Syrien - Ægypten - Jordan - Libanon - Seksdageskrigen 1967