Between East and West: Israel's Foreign Policy Orientation 1948-1956

Description

Israel's political allegiance to the West is today unquestioned. In the early years after 1948, however, the direction of Israel's foreign policy remained uncertain. In this important book, Dr. Bialer describes the internal debates within the Israeli political parties, and particularly the highly ideological labor movement, on the choices among pro-Soviet, pro-Western or nonaligned foreign policies. Making use of recently declassified documents, the author has carried out extensive research in the State Archives and in other archives; his account is based overwhelmingly on primary sources. This book examines the ideological components of these debates as well as more material motivation factors: dependence on U.S. aid, trade links with the Soviet bloc, reliance on Czech arms supplies, and the degree of freedom allowed to the Soviet and East European Jewish communities to emigrate to Israel. Dr. Bialer concludes that there was no alternative strategy for Israel to adopt; the tilt towards the West was inevitable.

'Bialer's book is extraordinarily well researched and offers a stimulating insight into an almost untouched subject ... It is a very important book which will be of interest to analysts and students of Israel and the Middle East alike.' Millennium '... his scholarship and analysis have made a major contribution to the on-going historical debate.' Shofar