The Prime Ministers Author: Yehuda Avner | Language: English | ISBN:
B003X9781Y | Format: EPUB
The Prime Ministers Description
The Prime Ministers is the first and only insider account of Israeli politics from the founding of the Jewish State to the near-present day. It reveals stunning details of life-and-death decision-making, top-secret military operations and high level peace negotiations. The Prime Ministers brings readers into the orbits of world figures, including Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Rabin, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Henry Kissinger, Yasser Arafat, Margaret Thatcher, Princess Diana and the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Written in a captivating literary style by a political adviser, speechwriter and diplomat, The Prime Ministers is an enthralling political memoir, and a precisely crafted prism through which to view current Middle East affairs.
The Prime Ministers presents first-hand accounts of major historical events, including:
- Menachem Begin's decision to bomb Saddam Hussein's nuclear reactor
- Yitzhak Rabin's handling of the Entebbe rescue mission
- The Egypt-Israel peace process
- The shelling of the Irgun arms ship, the Altalena
- Deir Yessin
It offers keen observations of key personalities, and unforgettable descriptions of political rivalries, diplomatic blunders, White House and Buckingham Palace banquets and more, to bring Israel's history to life in a way no book has done before.
- File Size: 2557 KB
- Print Length: 731 pages
- Publisher: The Toby Press, LLC (July 24, 2010)
- Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
- Language: English
- ASIN: B003X9781Y
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #32,853 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #1
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Specific Topics > War & Peace - #5
in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Specific Topics > War & Peace - #14
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > History > Middle East > Israel
- #1
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Specific Topics > War & Peace - #5
in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Specific Topics > War & Peace - #14
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > History > Middle East > Israel
Yehuda Avner, a retired Israel Foreign Ministry official and former native of Manchester, has written a very readable behind-the-scenes account highlighting segments of his career, during which he came into working contact with five Israeli prime ministers and countless senior players in government. The book gives glimpses into the intricate workings of bureaucracy and the people who shaped history.
The book is not an objective analysis of Israeli foreign policy, nor does it purport to be such. Rather, it provides insight into people and how they worked. Ariel Sharon had a keen military mind. Abba Eban was disliked by many and sometimes excluded from the flow of information and the decision-making process. Key documents provided by Israel "fell between the cracks" in the American less-than-amicable transition from the Carter presidency to that of Ronald Reagan. Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat had a strong personal liking and trust for each other. Begin preferred to speak extemporaneously; Reagan used cue cards.
There is, of course, considerable material concerning political events. Jimmy Carter put extreme pressure on Israel to accept an international conference to "solve" the problems of the Middle East, a move strongly opposed by the Begin administration. This was a reversal of Henry Kissinger's approach of an incremental peace stressing confidence-building measures. As pressure mounted and concerns about the Soviet role and PLO representation dominated discourse, the international conference proposed for Geneva became abruptly moot. Anwar Sadat buried the issue with his historic visit to Jerusalem and direct talks with Israel. Not that there were not theoretical concerns, which seem almost bizarre in retrospect.
This is undoubtedly one of the best non-fiction books of 2010 and arguably the very best. Reading Avner's clear eloquent language and the manner in which he presents the dramas and dialogues, we are not surprised that Prime Minister after Prime Minister of different parties and different agendas requested that he be their speech and letter writer. Avner was present with Israeli and English Prime Ministers and American Presidents at crucial historic moments, taking notes, and he now offers his readers intimate behind the scene pictures of what actually happened and what was really said in Jerusalem, Washington, London, and other places. Avner describes famous personalities at their best moments and when they were flawed. People who think they know the history of the founding of the State of Israel and its relationships with the United States though the premiership of Menachem Begin will have their eyes opened. And those who consider Begin, the hero of this chronicle, a terrorist, will come to realize, as did Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, his arch enemy, that Begin was a brilliant and compassionate thinker and leader, and that he was the consummate gentleman even when he was in opposition to the government.
We read, for example, how Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, a seemingly lackluster prime minister, was asked by several Israeli leaders to resign before the Six-Day War so that Ben-Gurion could take over and pursue and win the impending war, but he refused and readied the Israeli armed forces for the successful fight of its life.
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