Long regarded as the preserve of French scholars and Francophone audiences due to its significance to France's colonial empire, North Africa is increasingly recognized for its own singular importance as a crossover region. Situated where Islamic, Mediterranean, African, and European histories intersect, the Maghrib has long acted as a cultural conduit, mediator and broker. From the medieval era, when the oasis of Sijilmasa in the Moroccan wilderness funnelled caravan loads of gold into international networks, through the 16th century when two superpowers, the Ottomans and the Spanish...

During the 1990s many dramatic changes influenced the basic characteristics of the Israeli democracy. This volume examines the challenges and circumstances the country has faced and addresses both the public's and leadership's singular goal of "peace and security."

The book also investigates the renewed constitutional framework which attempted to meet new challenges, but in reality contributed to the evolution of "new politics" and a new party system. This new system is explored through an analytical study of the history of the party system with an emphasis on new phenomena, such as...

Professor Goldberg examines the power struggle between Ben-Gurion and the Knesset. This struggle was not primarily concerned with who should hold the reigns of power, but with the ideals that should lie behind the government. Ben-Gurion did not think that the Knesset had the moral backbone required at a historic turning point in Israeli history, when the character of the nation was being developed; although he conceded that it was OK at the more mundane administrative tasks. He was so dismissive of the Knesset and its members, that he would not even attend parties at which Knesset members...

Britain, Israel and Anglo-Jewry, 1949-57 is based on a profusion of primary material from the Israel State Archives, Jerusalem; the Ben-Gurion Archive, Sede Boker; the Public Records Office, London; and the National Archives, Washington; in addition to twenty-six public archives and fourteen collections of private papers. Dr Aridan also collected thirty-one personal and collected testimonies from policy makers, senior Foreign Office officials, Israeli diplomats and attaches and Anglo-Jewish leaders. Previous research on the period in question has examined primarily the military aspects with...

The essays in this volume discuss and assess the philosophies and writings of Professor David Vital. They aim to develop his work within modern diplomacy, issues relating to modern Jewish history, and within the State of Israel and its conduct of foreign relations.

Traces the background to the history of the Armistice Regime, established in 1947 to combat the fighting between Jews and Arabs in Jerusalem. The author details the Armistice Commission, which governed its application and the many in-built problems that thwarted their proper functioning.

Rethinking the Middle East runs counter to the received wisdom in modern Middle East studies. This discipline has been dominated by what may be termed a culture of victimization; it views the local populations of the Middle East Arabs in particular as the hapless victims of alien encroachment, and blames the region's endemic malaise on Western political and cultural imperialism. The author contends that the influence of the Great Powers has not been the primary force behind the region's political development, nor the main cause of its famous volatility. He argues that the main impetus has...