Today Amazon offers Six Days of War by Michael B. Oren just for $1.99.
This is the most complete history to date of the Six Day War of 1967, in which Israel entered and began its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. While no account can be definitive until Arab archives open, Oren, a Princeton-trained senior fellow at Jerusalem’s Shalem Center who has served as director of Israel’s department of inter-religious affairs and as an adviser to Israel’s U.N. delegation, utilizes newly available archival sources and a spectrum of interviews with participants, including many Arabs, to fill gaps and correct misconceptions. Further, Six Days of War is an attack on “post-Zionism”: the school of politics and history that casts Israel as the author of policies that intentionally promote the destuction of Palestine as a separate entity and of Palestinians as a people, not least through the occupation that began with the 1967 War. By contrast, Oren convincingly establishes in an often engrossing narrative the reactive, contingent nature of Israeli policy during both the crisis preceding the conflict and the war itself. As Prime Minister Levi Eshkol held the Israeli Defense Forces in check that May, Operation Dawn, an Egyptian plan for a preemptive strike against Israel, came within hours of implementation. It was canceled only because Egypt’s President Gamal Abdel Nasser feared it had been compromised. Israel’s decision to seek its own security in arms was finally triggered, Oren shows, by Jordan’s late accession to the hostile coalition dominated by Egypt and Syria. Geographically, the West Bank, then under Jordanian rule and occupation, cut Israel nearly in half. The military risk to Israel was unacceptable, Oren makes clear, in the context of a U.S. enmeshed in Vietnam and a West unwilling to act even in support of the status quo. Far from being a product of strategic calculation, Oren further argues, occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip was also contingent: the consequence of a victory so rapid and one-sided that even Israel’s generals found it difficult to believe it was happening. Israel, having proved it could not be defeated militarily and now possessing something to trade, hoped for comprehensive peace negotiations in a rational-actor model. Oren notes that some initiatives for peace did in fact develop. He seems, however, trying to convince himself along with his readers. Oren puts what he sees as Israel’s enduring weaknesses in relief: not arrogance, but self-doubt, self-analysis and self-criticism, all carried to near-suicidal degrees in 1967. Arab policy, by contrast, featured a confident commitment to erasing Israel from the map. The Six Day War shook that confidence, he finds, but did not alter the commitment. About the nature of Israeli policy since the war, the book says little, but finds that “for all its military conquests, Israel was still incapable of imposing the peace it craved.”
Some words about the Author
Michael B. Oren is the author of The Origins of the Second Arab-Israeli War, and has written extensively on Middle Eastern history and diplomatic affairs. He received his Ph.D. from Princeton University in Middle East studies. He has served as Director of Israel’s Department of Inter-Religious Affairs in the government of the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and as an adviser to the Israeli delegation to the United Nations. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem.
Little Hoot by Amy Krouse, Jen Corace is a small book for young readers. It costs only $1.99.
It’s not fair! All Little Owl wants is to go to bed at a reasonable hour, like his friends do. But no . . . Mama and Papa say little owls have to stay up late and play. So Little Owl spends all night jumping on his bed, playing on the jungle gym, and doing tricks on his skateboardGÇöbut he’s hooting mad about it ! Children who have a hard time going to bed will love this fun twist on the universal dilemma.
Some words about the Authors
Amy Krouse Rosenthal is a Chicago-based writer. She is the author of Little Pea, Cookies, and The OK Book.
Jen Corace graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in Illustration. A New Jersey native, she now lives in Seattle.
Total Pool is a small game which is free today only.
Pool on your Android device. Compete against friends, the computer, or master the challenges. Simply the best touchscreen pool game in the world.
Product features:
- Realistic ball physics
- 4 levels of difficulty against which to play
- Intuitive touch controls; apply spin and swerve with ease
- 80 challenges to beat, with more coming soon
- World Rules, Black Ball, Eight Ball, Nine Ball, Ten Ball, Straight Pool and One Pocket accurate rule sets
- True-to-life American and British style tables
- 30 unlockable alternate tables and balls to play with