A Never-ending Conflict: A Guide to Israeli Military History

by Mordechai Bar-On

This is the story of a tragic confrontation between two national movements contesting the same small piece of land, a clash that has become one of the most intractable issues in modern times. From the establishment of the first Zionist colonies in the 1880s, tensions have run high between the indigenous Arab population of Palestine and Jews who have sought to create an independent state on land they consider their ancient home. Clashes, both internal and external, have become increasingly violent. Since the first full-scale Palestinian Revolt in 1936, relations have, except for a few brief periods of peace, been characterized by continuous and escalating degrees of bloodshed. Twelve major clashes can be identified from that first three-year struggle to the current Intifada al Aqsa . Here, 12 Israeli historians and writers present reflections on the incidents, along with up-to-date analysis and historical assessment.

After a detailed introduction designed to help readers place the conflicts into a historical context, experts discuss events ranging from the first organized revolt to the current conflagration. As a result of the initial weakness of the Palestinians and the defeats they suffered at the hands of the better-organized Israelis, the entire Arab world stepped into the breach. Wars between May 1948 and October 1973 involved Arab regular armies, but the Palestinian comeback began in 1965, as a result of guerrilla insurgency. It gathered momentum with the popular uprising of the first Intifada (1987-1990) and more so with the start of the second and more lethal Intifada in 2000. The situation is, these experts argue, not without hope of a resolution, but an end to the violence is unlikely to come easily or quickly.

Genres: History

272 pages, Hardcover

First published November 30, 2004

About the author

Mordechai Bar-On is senior research fellow, Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi Institute, Jerusalem. He served in the Israel Defense Forces as General Moshe Dayan's bureau chief during the Sinai Campaign, and in 1984 was elected to the Knesset, Israel's parliament. He lives in Jerusalem.

Reviews

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are interested in digging deeper into the evolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict with an emphasis on the military perspective, this book is what you're looking for. To be able to fully understand the context of the essays, background knowledge of the Israeli-Palestinian history is required. The authors don't waste time explaining the events that lead up to what is discussed in each chapter, so this book definitely should not serve as an introduction to the conflict. The goal of the book, as stated in the introduction, is to approach the various topics with the goal of dispelling myths - both Israeli and Palestinian. Each chapter provides a general overview of a key event in Israeli military history stretching from the Arab Revolt of 1936-1939 to the Second Intifada in 2000. Though I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about the Arab-Israeli conflict, this book introduced me to aspects of the conflict that I had no knowledge about (e.g. the 1969-1970 War of Attrition) and explored the underlying causes that provoked the outbreak of the various wars and popular uprisings.

I thoroughly enjoyed the read, but I downgraded my rating to 3 stars for the following reasons:
- The addition that I read (2004) had a fairly large amount of typos. Not just misspellings of words, but names and incorrect dates as well. Hopefully this was corrected in the newer addition.
- The two chapters on the 1967 and the 1973 wars were too focused on the minutia of the war for my taste (e.g. detailed descriptions of troop movements, attacks, and counterattacks). This approach wasn't consistent with the other chapters of the book and felt out of place.

It should be noted that all of the authors are Jewish academics. However, I feel that, overall, the viewpoints presented in each essay were fair and balanced. As an academic, it is always hard to completely separate oneself from biases and prejudice (especially when writing about an issue you are so intimately involved with), but this book is quite objective in its overall approach.

If you're interested in the modern history region, understanding the Israeli dimension is essential to understanding many of the major events in the Middle East since the early 20th century and Bar-On's book will give you deeper insight into the what, why, and how of the most important periods of Palestinian-Israeli history.

[Carl Nurick · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent and objective review of Israeli tolerance of Homicidal Muslims












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[Blogul · Rating 3 out of 5]

not quite ”military history”, but rather a collection of historical analysis essays; some really good, some not so much (being too didactic or even accounting-like). Too dry on the whole and sometimes boring.

[Matthew Dambro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent collection of essays written by Israelis of various political stripe. It is a history of the Arab-Israeli War from the 1930s to 2006. It is somewhat dated but it allows one to see the big picture of the entire conflict. It serves as an excellent introduction to the topic. The research is top notch. The writing is standard academic but understandable. Highly recommended.

[Conan Robison · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very detailed information about Israeli military conflicts, but was a bit dry for my tastes. I was interested in learning more about the Middle East, but this was not quite what I wanted...it was too much.