Itamar Rabinovich

2 months ago | hoover.org | Itamar Rabinovich

In 1965, the British journalist Patrick Seale published his classic book “The Struggle for Syria.” Seale argued that the weak, fragmented Syrian state served as the arena in which regional and international actors fought directly and by proxy for regional hegemony. In 1949 alone three coups d’etat took place in Syria. The country found temporary refuge by merging with Egypt into the United Arab Republic, breaking away in 1961 to resume its precarious independent existence.

Apr 26, 2024 | jewishreviewofbooks.com | Jehuda Reinharz |Motti Golani |Akiva Schick |Itamar Rabinovich

Brandeis University Press 820 pp., $40 On the fifth of Iyar 5708, Friday, May 14, 1948, four in the afternoon in Tel Aviv, nine in the morning in New York, the Provisional State Council convened in the Tel Aviv Museum to declare that an independent Jewish state would come into existence and that the council would then reconstitute itself as the Provisional Government of Israel.

Apr 25, 2024 | aijac.org.au | Itamar Rabinovich |Michael Shannon

Middle Eastern Maze: Israel, the Arabs, and the Region 1948-2022by Itamar RabinovichBrookings Institution Press, 2023, 376 pp., A$64.98This is a very rich book and well worth reading. It outlines the ups and downs of Israeli diplomacy with its Arab neighbours over the course of the past 70 years, with particular emphasis on Israeli-Syrian negotiations (in which the author took part) and on Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

Apr 2, 2024 | brookings.edu | Itamar Rabinovich

The Biden administration’s decision on March 25 not to veto a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza brought the tension between the Biden administration and the Netanyahu government to a new high. On October 7 after Hamas’s horrific terrorist attack, the administration, and President Joe Biden personally, extended remarkable support to Israel, but as the war lingered (it will soon reach the six-month mark) significant disagreements emerged.

Mar 26, 2024 | meforum.org | Robert O. Freedman |Itamar Rabinovich

This is a very rich book and well worth reading. It outlines the ups and downs of Israeli diplomacy with its Arab neighbors, with particular emphasis on Israeli-Syrian negotiations (in which the author took part) and on Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. The book has a number of strengths. First, unlike other books dealing with the Arab-Israeli conflict, it emphasizes the domestic political constraints on Israeli prime ministers, while not hesitating to point out the flaws in their policies.