From the Publisher
Historians have long held that the Kennedy administration forged the American alliance with Israel as a way of courting political support from American Jews. In contrast, the Eisenhower administration is believed to have considered Israel a political and strategic liability. In Decade of Transition, Abraham Ben-Zvi now shows that the Eisenhower years were an "incubation period" during which the ground-work was laid for the eventual American-Israeli alliance. As a result, President Kennedy's Israeli policy is understood as not the beginning, but a continuation of a process with foundations in the prior administration.
Focusing on the period between Eisenhower's inauguration and Kennedy's landmark decision to sell the Hawk anti-aircraft missile to Israel, Ben-Zvi shows how the warming of American-Israeli diplomatic relations began with Eisenhower's second term. In his first administration, relations between the two countries reached a nadir with the Suez War, but in 1958, Israel's reaction to an intensifying crisis in Jordan caused Eisenhower to reevaluate Israel's strategic potential. Amid growing fears of unrest in the Middle East and a perceived Soviet threat, Israel could now become a useful ally and a new base of stability in the region.
Ben-Zvi argues that both Eisenhower and Kennedy sought an alliance with Israel not to satisfy domestic political concerns, but to invest in Israel's growing strength and political stability. He analyzes Eisenhower's initial perceptions of Israel, and shows how they evolved along with his estimate of the increasing significance of the Middle East on the world stage. Ben-Zvi traces the process of deterrence and coercion used byboth presidents to transform Israel into a strategic asset for the United States, from American insistence on inspecting Israel's nuclear weapons facilities to failed attempts to influence Israel's policy on Palestinian refugees.
Thoroughly researched and drawing on thousands of documents-many only recently made public- Decade of Transition provides a significant reevaluation of the nature and origins of the American-Israeli relationship and the shaping of the modern Middle East.
Alan Dowty
This work is in many ways a model of what such a work should be. It is clearly conceived and argued, based on work with original sources as well as a mastery of the relevant literature, and offers a significant reinterpretation of an important period (as it turns out in the development of the U.S.-Israel relationship.
Ritchie Ovendale
Using primary sources housed in the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library at Princeton University, the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library in Abilene and the Israel State Archives, Abraham Ben-Zvi of Tel Aviv University advances the thesis that the perception of the Eisenhower administration as being "invariably and irrevocably hostile to Israel" needs to be revised.
Robert Lieber
Important, original, and thoroughly readable. Ben-Zvi challenges conventional wisdom with boldness and originality, making a major contribution to our historical understanding that also has implications for the contemporary debate on America´s Middle East policy and national interests.
Israel Affairs
In short, this volume is a very important addition to the literature on American foreign policy in the Middle East that contributes significantly to our collective knowledge. It will undoubtedly become a central work in the field, and is most highly recommended for anyone doing research in this area.
Booknews
A diplomatic history which challenges the notion that the Eisenhower administration viewed Israel as a political and strategic liability. Studying the period between 1953 and 1962, the author argues that, the beginnings of the U.S. alliance with Israel was not a result of Kennedy's response to Jewish voters, but instead had its roots in the second term of Eisenhower. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
What People Are Saying
Robert Lieber
A major contribution to our historical understanding that also has implications for the contemporary debate on America's Middle East policy and national interests. -- Georgetown University
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