Arab-Israeli Conflict

October 15, 2014
An enlightening assessment of Middle Eastern power struggles, Roberts' resource covers a labyrinthine topic without cluttering the page with acronyms and arcane names and terms. Biographies provide a fair representation of leaders, particularly the careers of Ariel Sharon, Anwar Sadat, Golda Meir, and Yasser Arafat; but missing from the lineup of biographies are the significant influences of the Ayatollah Khomeini, Saddam Hussein, and Reza Pahlavi. Maps, such as the one charting the 1982 war in Lebanon, enable readers to follow a ground war day by day over known terrain. Isolation of countries, constituencies, and events (such as Six-Day War, Arab Spring, Suez crisis) into separate essays focuses scholarship on manageable aspects of a complex regional history. Primary sources from 1917 to 2009 clarify the positions of Arthur Balfour, the United Nations, and Mahmoud Abbas. By beginning the 26-page time line in the Bronze Age, the editor foregrounds centuries of combat with tribal attempts to stabilize boundaries and safe zones while satisfying the crusade for vengeance. A list of 30 contributors attests to a balance of military and humanistic perspectives. Indexing by primary and secondary topics points historians, teachers, students, and researchers to an array of influences, from Anthony Eden, Moshe Dayan, and Nasserism to the Camp David Accords, Hamas, and al-Qaeda. A surprising fault in coverage of strategy and tactics is the omissions of the CIA's sanctioning of Iran's SAVAK in 1957 and of David Ben-Gurion's formation of Mossad in 1949. There is also slight commentary on counterterrorism and the international imprimatur of espionage, torture, and assassination. Despite these lapses, Roberts' compendium offers a valuable addition to academic and public libraries.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)