"Probably the best biography of Saddam Hussein…[it] presents a coherent view of a man who has generated a good deal of mythology" (Roger Hardy, BBC World Service).Authors Efraim Karsh and Inari Rautsi, experts on Middle East history and politics, have combined their expertise to write what is largely considered the definitive work on Iraq's fifth president. Drawing on a wealth of Iraqi, Arab, Western, and Israeli sources, including interviews with people wh...

A noted historian analyzes Yasser Arafat's role in destabilizing the Middle East in a book praised as "eye-opening and exhaustively researched" ( New York Post).Offering the first comprehensive account of the collapse of the most promising peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, historian Efraim Karsh details Arafat's efforts since the historic Oslo Accords in building an extensive terrorist infrastructure, his failure to disarm the extremist gr...

The Iran-Iraq War, which ended one month short of its eighth anniversary, was one of the longest, bloodiest and costliest armed conflicts of the developing world in the twentieth century.Now in e-guide format, Professor Karsh addresses the causes of the Iran-Iraq War, unpacking the objectives of the two belligerents and examining how far objectives were matched by strategy. He assesses the war's military lessons regarding such key areas as strategy, tactics and esc...

It has been one of Zionism’s foremost credos that so long as Jews continued their millenarian dispersal as small minorities in countless countries around the globe, antisemitism would remain unabated. Only by reinstating the Jewish people as an equal member of the comity of nations through reestablishment of its own independent state in the ancestral homeland would Jews be able to regain normalcy and respectability, and to ameliorate, if not eliminate, this long hatred. What this buoyant p...

The continuing crisis in Syria has raised questions over the common perception of Middle Eastern affairs as an offshoot of global power politics. To Western intellectuals, foreign policy experts, and politicians, “empire” and “imperialism” are categories that apply exclusively to Europe and more recently to the United States of America. As they see it, Middle Eastern history is the product of its unhappy interaction with these powers. Forming the basis of President Obama's much ballyhooed ...

Israel, formally known as "The State of Israel," was established on 14 May 1948, and has since played a pivotal role in international affairs, particularly in the politics of the Middle East and North Africa. Israel's relations with its Arab neighbors have been tense for decades, and a lasting peace has never appeared more likely. Yet, we already live in a time of perpetual change, and naturally, the politics of Israel and the surrounding region of the Middle East and North Africa ...

This book explores the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) phenomenon – its impact and implications for Israel and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, as well as the inextricable linkage between its anti-Israeli/anti-Zionist propaganda and antisemitism, unraveled from yet unknown perspectives.The edited volume offers groundbreaking research: While Israeli public diplomacy focused on security, Palestinian diplomacy focused on a fabricated history. The book analyzes the old Russia...

This Chatham House Paper examines the nature of Soviet relations with Syria, assessing the commitments made and the gains reaped by Moscow and Damascus in the economic, military and political spheres. After discussing Soviet interests in the region in general and with regard to Syria in particular, the author traces the evolution of the relationship between Moscow and its major Middle Eastern ally since Asad came to power in 1970.While the study argues that huge Soviet military aid...

The end of the British mandate in Palestine heralded the birth of the new state of Israel. It also marked the end of one of the most tumultuous and momentous chapters in Israeli history. But the new state, born into a hostile environment and struggling with the manifold demands of sovereignty, would have to face many post-Independence challenges to its existence, not least in the form of armed conflict and confrontation with its Arab neighbours. This volume examines the conflicts that from...

The Zionist Movement was born in the wake of Jewish emancipation in Western Europe, and at a time of increased persecution in Eastern Europe. This volume addresses the intellectual, social and political ramifications of Jewish settlement in Eretz Israel before the creation of the State of Israel.

This book is a wide-ranging and innovative study of Israeli-Lebanese relations from the birth of the Jewish state in 1948 to the Israel-Lebanon War of 2006. Israel’s relationship with its Arab neighbours is a subject of perennial interest in the Middle East. The relationship between Israel and Lebanon has taken numerous forms since the establishment of the Jewish state and the chapters in this timely and important volume provide a comprehensive, detailed and informative analysis of the evo...