The Arab-Israeli Wars; War and Peace in the Middle East

New York: Vintage Books [A Division of Random House], 1984. First Vintage Books Edition [this is a Revised and Updated Edition]. Trade paperback. Very good. [2], 403, [11] pages. Maps. Illustrations. Select Bibliography. Index. Cover has slight wear and soiling. Major-General Chaim Herzog (17 September 1918 - 17 April 1997) was an Israeli politician, general, lawyer and author who served as the sixth President of Israel between 1983 and 1993. He emigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1935 and served in the Haganah Jewish paramilitary group during the 1936-39 Arab revolt. He served in the British Army during World War II. He returned to Palestine after the war and, following the end of the British Mandate and Israel's Declaration of Independence in 1948, operated in the battles for Latrun during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. In 1972 he was a co-founder of Herzog, Fox & Ne'eman, which became one of Israel's largest law firms. He served as Israel's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, in which capacity he repudiated UN General Assembly Resolution 3379. In 1981 he won a Knesset seat. In March 1983, he was elected to President. Derived from a Kirkus review: A knowledgeable history of 35 years of Israeli military campaigns--Herzog, twice chief of military intelligence, was involved right along. The focus throughout is on the detailed narration of battles, with the political and diplomatic context treated summarily. The viewpoint throughout is implicitly pro-Israeli. Herzog's description of the 1973 Yom Kippur War credits the Arab states, especially Egypt under Sadat, with assimilating the lessons of the 1973 defeat in mounting its successful surprise attack against Israel--and scores the Israeli leadership for falling to alter its preconceptions about Arab strategy in the face of contrary intelligence. The human element--on the battlefield or in operational headquarters--remains paramount. The book is comprehensive and readable: the war of attrition is attended to as well as the ""hot"" wars, the internal dissensions as well as the crucial decisions.