Israel At Sixty

Based on extensive interviews, Israel at Sixty presents a balanced, comprehensive account of this complex and amazing land. It re-creates historic events from the actions of Israel's founding visionaries through the ravages of six wars with its Arab neighbors to its growing strength and international stature and efforts to make permanent peace with its adversaries. Complete with more than fifty previously unpublished photos, Israel at Sixty is a beautiful keepsake for anyone who loves, respects, and supports the Jewish state.

Sixty years after the birth of Israel, this fascinating and original book of essays brings together a number of the leading experts on Zionism and Israel to examine the domestic and international context of Israel's transition from community to state in 1948. With contributions on a wide range of historically important topics that are no less relevant now than they were six decades ago, the book examines how countries as diverse as France, the United States, Turkey, Britain and Ireland viewed the partition of Palestine in 1947 and the subsequent establishment of Israel in 1948. It also looks at the involvement of the UN, Zionist and Arab leaders in the events immediately preceding Israel's birth. While controversial issues such as the role of the Holocaust in the creation of Israel and the attitude of the Zionist movement to Palestinian Arabs, from its onset to the 1948 war, are examined in order to set the record straight after decades of mistaken and misleading research. This book was previously published as a special issue of Israel Affairs.

Based on extensive interviews, Israel at Sixty presents a balanced, comprehensive account of this complex and amazing land. It re-creates historic events from the actions of Israel's founding visionaries through the ravages of six wars with its Arab neighbors to its growing strength and international stature and efforts to make permanent peace with its adversaries. Complete with more than fifty previously unpublished photos, Israel at Sixty is a beautiful keepsake for anyone who loves, respects, and supports the Jewish state.

The award-winning graphic memoir about Israel that offers more questions than answers about identity and politics Sarah Glidden is a progressive Jewish American twentysomething who is both vocal about and critical of Israeli politics in the Holy Land. When a debate with her mother prods her to sign up for a Birthright Israel tour, Glidden expects to find objective facts to support her strong opinions. During her two weeks in Israel, Glidden takes advantage of the opportunity to ask the people she meets about the fraught and complex issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but their answers only lead her to question her own take on the conflict. Simple linework and gorgeous watercolors spotlight Israel's countryside, urban landscapes, and religious landmarks. With straightforward sincerity, lovingly observed anecdotes, and a generous dose of self-deprecating humor, How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less is accessible while retaining Glidden's distinctive perspective. Over the course of this touching memoir, Glidden comes to terms with the idea that there are no easy answers to the world's problems, and that is okay. This debut book landed on several best-of-the-year lists, including Entertainment Weekly's; earned a YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens distinction; and won an Ignatz Award. Her second book, Rolling Blackouts, which documents her experience shadowing journalists in Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria, will also come out this fall from Drawn & Quarterly.

The compelling autobiography of Israel's preeminent photojournalist, illustrated with his most memorable images. Today, photojournalist David Rubinger stands at the peak of his profession: a winner of the Israel Prize for services to the media and a fixture on the masthead of Time, he is the only photographer whose work is on permanent display at the Knesset, Israel’s legislature. In this fascinating volume, he reports his own story, which in many ways reflects the history of Israel that he has recorded so faithfully with his camera. Born in Vienna in 1924, he emigrated to British Palestine in 1939 and developed a passion for photography while serving in the British army’s Jewish Brigade. After fighting in Israel’s War of Independence, he became a professional news photographer, reporting on each of his young nation’s subsequent wars from the front lines, at first for the Israeli media and later as a correspondent for Time-Life. He photographed all of Israel’s leaders, many of whom have allowed him a remarkable degree of access to their lives; Ariel Sharon said, “I trust Rubinger even though I know he doesn’t vote for me.” But Rubinger has not confined his reporting to war and politics; by photographing the successive waves of Jewish immigrants from Europe, the Arab world, Russia, and Ethiopia, he has also created a valuable record of Israel’s transformation from a country of six hundred thousand to one of seven million. In recounting his eventful career, Rubinger proves himself a gifted raconteur, sharing anecdotes of the many leading personalities he has photographed and telling the stories behind his most famous pictures, many of which are reproduced here at full-page size. Also illustrated are a selection of Rubinger’s never-before-published personal photographs, which provide vivid behind-the-scenes glimpses into the fast-paced and sometimes daring work of a photojournalist. Both a personal account of one man’s life with the camera and a visual document of the birth of a nation, Israel through My Lens is an essential book for anyone with an interest in Israeli history or the art of photojournalism.

A comprehensive look at the history of the Israel Navy, from its inception in the early 1930’s through its 60th anniversary in 2008. Organized chronologically, the book covers all aspects of the Israel Navy’s history, including equipment, peacetime and wartime operations, organizational and conceptual development, changing roles and missions, as well as distinguished personnel. Going far beyond mere naval or maritime aspects, the author also sketches the historical development of Israel’s ongoing conflict with both the Palestinians and its neighbouring Arab states.

The state of Israel is one of the most controversial countries in the world. Yet, its unique creation and rise to power in 1948 has not been adequately explained either by its friends (mainstream Zionists) nor by its detractors (Arabists and post-Zionists). Using a variety of comparative methodologies; from contrasting the Jewish state to other minorities in the Ottoman Turkish Empire to the rise of the four Tigers in Asia to newly independent countries and revolutionary socialist countries in Europe and Asia, Jonathan Adelman examines how Israel has gained the strength to overcome great obstacles and become a serious regional power in the Middle East by 2007. Themes addressed include: how the creation of Israel is strikingly different from that of most new states, as undetermined by the major structural forces in the world in the twentieth century how voluntarist forces, those of individual choice, will and strategy, played a major role in its creation and success in-depth analysis of the creation of a revolutionary party, government, army and secret police as critical to the success of the socialist revolution (1881–1977) the enormity of the forces aligned against the state; from major international and religious organizations representing billions of people, international reluctance to helping Israel in crisis, and internal Israeli and Jewish issues the tremendous impact of revolutionary (socialist and semi-capitalist nationalist) factors in giving Israel the strength to survive and become a significant regional power over time. Jonathan Adelman provides a fresh perspective to view one of the most controversial states in the world and avoids the highly charged ideological descriptions that often plague such discussions. Understanding the rise of Israel, a central state in the region, helps to explain a great deal about the Middle East today.

“The most comprehensive account of Israeli history yet published” (Efraim Karsh, The Sunday Telegraph). Fleeing persecution in Europe, thousands of Jewish immigrants settled in Palestine after World War II. Renowned historian Martin Gilbert crafts a riveting account of Israel’s turbulent history, from the birth of the Zionist movement under Theodor Herzl to the unexpected declaration of its statehood in 1948, and through the many wars, conflicts, treaties, negotiations, and events that have shaped its past six decades—including the Six Day War, the Intifada, Suez, and the Yom Kippur War. Drawing on a wealth of first-hand source materials, eyewitness accounts, and his own personal and intimate knowledge of the country, Gilbert weaves a complex narrative that’s both gripping and informative, and probes both the ideals and realities of modern statehood. “Martin Gilbert has left us in his debt, not only for a superlative history of Israel, but also for a restatement of the classic vision of Zion, in which a Middle East without guns is not a bedtime story but an imperative long overdue. This is the vision for which Yitzhak Rabin gave his life. This book is tribute to his memory.” —Jonathan Sacks, The Times (London)