Ebooks for the Classroom+Faculty

Israel Undercover: Secret Warfare and Hidden Diplomacy in the Middle East
ISBN: 9780815652038
Platform/Publisher: JSTOR / Syracuse University Press
Digital rights: Users: unlimited; Printing: chapter; Download: chapter
Subjects: Israel-Arab conflicts; Espionage -- Israel; Israel. Sherut ha-bitahon ha-kelali; Fedayeen;

Israel Undercover focuses on the execution of para­military counterterrorist operations against Palestinian guerrillas and the behind-the-scenes negotiations car­ried out among Arab statesmen, Israeli leaders, and American officials.

Intelligence agencies like the CIA and the KGB are often viewed as tools for carrying out "dirty tricks," covert operations that lead to government coups, ille­gal bombings, political killings, and "Iranscam." In the Middle East, undercover operatives are frequently called upon to serve a dual purpose: to wage clandes­tine warfare behind enemy lines and to help public officials carry out secret diplomatic moves that would be impossible if carried out under the glare of the world press.

This book successfully portrays the cold objectivity that governs the life-and-death foreign policy of a country like Israel-the need to view friend and foe alike with resolute realism.

The book is divided into four sections: (1) "Inside Beirut" describes Israel's use of its intelligence net­work in Lebanon during the 1970s to conduct military reprisals and its impact on the Israeli-Egyptian peace process; (2) "Across the River Jordan" examines the decades-old secret relationship between Israeli leaders and Jordan's King Hussein; (3) "American Dreams" reveals the quiet alliance between the Christian Phalan­gist militia and Washington's back-door channel to the PLO; and (4) "The Mysterious Middle East" provides a glimpse of the region's special mix of conspiracy and animosity.

In order to provide a historical setting and a politi­cal context for the events described in the book, mate­rial is included from widely published sources, inte­grated with information gathered from private informants, some of whom have chosen to remain anonymous.