ENGLISH

Between East and West: Israel's Foreign Policy Orientation 1948-1956 (LSE Monographs in International Studies)

By Uri Bialer

Book information

Year
1990
ISBN
9780511521652, 0521362490, 0511521650, 9780521362498
LCC
DS119.6 .B53 1990
Open Library ID
OL2209126M
Language
english
Format
DJVU
Filesize
2 MB (1878039 bytes)
Pages
301\301
Topic
History
DPI
300
Time added
2011-06-04 13:46:07

Description

Israel's political allegiance to the West is today unquestioned. In the early years after 1948, however, the direction of Israel's foreign policy remained uncertain. In this important book, Dr. Bialer describes the internal debates within the Israeli political parties, and particularly the highly ideological labor movement, on the choices among pro-Soviet, pro-Western or nonaligned foreign policies. Making use of recently declassified documents, the author has carried out extensive research in the State Archives and in other archives; his account is based overwhelmingly on primary sources. This book examines the ideological components of these debates as well as more material motivation factors: dependence on U.S. aid, trade links with the Soviet bloc, reliance on Czech arms supplies, and the degree of freedom allowed to the Soviet and East European Jewish communities to emigrate to Israel. Dr. Bialer concludes that there was no alternative strategy for Israel to adopt; the tilt towards the West was inevitable.

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