Product Description

"A remarkable feat--clear, compelling and accessible--. Critical background for any appreciation of the Jewish state."--The New York Times Book Review

With his characteristic grace and lucidity, Howard M. Sachar, renowned author of thirteen earlier books on Middle Eastern and Jewish history, brings to life the complex and dramatic story of the friendships and fallings-out between Israel and the various European powers over the last half-century.

Dr. Sachar chronicles the always uneasy relationship between Israel and Great Britain; its early love-affair and nasty break-up with France; the shifting Soviet policies toward Israel; and the unlikely emergence of Germany as the new nation's chief European benefactor. A master of historical narrative, Sachar once again enlightens us with fine scholarship, insightful analysis, and an unerring knowledge of human--and national--motivations.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #290690 in Books
• Published on: 2000-06-13
• Released on: 2000-06-13
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

From Amazon.com
On the surface, it isn't surprising that the histories of Israel and Europe are intertwined. With such heavy U.S. involvement in recent decades, however, it bears remembering that Europe played a far larger role in the development of Israel during its first 30 years. Howard M. Sachar, whose previous books include sweeping surveys such as The Course of Modern Jewish History and A History of Israel: From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time, is one of the greatest historians of the Jewish people. In Israel and Europe: An Appraisal in History, he focuses on the European powers and their tangled relationships with Israel. Sachar presents a compelling narrative, detailing Israel's shifting alliances: the Soviet Union's early support of the Zionists and later aid to their Arab foes, France's full assistance and later indifference, Britain's friendship moving from Palestine to Israel as an attempt to maintain a foothold in the Holy Land, and the rise of Germany as Israel's staunchest European ally. Sachar's obvious love of Israel lends passion to his tale without distorting his judgment. Scholar and general reader alike will appreciate Sachar's achievement in telling this complicated history in a concise and clear manner.

From Publishers Weekly
Sachar succeeds at a very difficult task, lucidly tracing the history of Israel's relations with Europe in one book. One of the deans of Jewish and Israeli history in the U.S., Sachar (The Course of Modern Jewish History) charts events from the founding of the Jewish state in 1948 through Norway's involvement in the 1993 Oslo peace accords signed by Israel and the PLO. With an appreciation for complexity and an ability to marshal many details with remarkable efficiency, he focuses on the fluctuations in Israel's relations with France, Germany, Britain, the U.S.S.R. and the Vatican. Sachar deftly interweaves his extensive knowledge of how national and cultural forces affected Europe's relations with Israel?e.g., how German guilt for the Holocaust led to a strong initial relationship with the Jewish state?with more personal factors, such as how French President Francois Mitterrand's own experiences led him to bring France closer to Israel in the 1980s. Sachar is an unabashed advocate of tight links between Israel and Europe, but he doesn't neglect unflattering facts such as Israeli spy operations or Israel's bombing of a Lebanese plane in the late 1960s. Those looking for a strong theoretical framework might be disappointed, but this volume is an essential primer for scholars, students and anyone interested in 20th-century history and diplomacy.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Since the Yom Kippur War, the overwhelming amount of diplomatic ``action'' surrounding Israel has involved the US. But during the first half (194173) of the Jewish state's existence, the European powers were crucial to its economic and military su rvival, as related here. Veteran scholar Sachar (Modern History/George Washington Univ.; Farewell Espaa: The World of the Sephardim Remembered, 1994, etc.) rightly focuses almost exclusively on the four postwar European powers: Britain, France, West Germa ny, and the former USSR. Thus, for example, the Wiedergutmachung agreement (on reparations for the Holocaust), negotiated in 1952 between David Ben-Gurion and Konrad Adenauer, and bitterly opposed by Menachem Begin, was absolutely essential to the fledgin g state's ability to absorb hundreds of thousands of new immigrants, develop new industry, and help tens of thousands of Holocaust survivors bear difficult economic conditions. Significant military aid from Bonn was forthcoming from the Adenauer era throu gh that of Heinrich Kohl. In the mid-'50s, Paris helped Jerusalem to develop its air force and provided men and materials to build the country's nuclear reactor in Dimona. Although he emphasizes diplomatic relations, including recently abortive European a ttempts to play a mediating role between Israel and the Palestinians, Sachar also probes the sharp upsurge in economic trade between Israel and the European Community, which has grown more than tenfold over the past 25 years. Unfortunately, too little her e details the attitudes of major European intellectuals and religious leaders toward the Jewish state. In addition, Sachar's pronounced ``dovish'' and anticlerical sentiments occasionally intrude, as when he asks: ``Would the Israeli people survive a thir d generation only by maintaining a state of siege, retreating between a wall of parochialist suspicion and fundamentalist exclusivity?'' However, these flaws pale in comparison to Sachar's achievement: A solid, even pathbreaking book that covers a great d eal of ground while remaining accessible to the general reader. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

The very book I sorely needed.
I believe nobody can deny the high quality of this book. It is not only about the history of Israel-Arab struggle but also about the history of European diplomacy toward Israel and Arab nations. Professor Sachar classified European political leaders (Adenauer, Erhard, Brandt, Schmidt, Kohl, de Gaulle, Pompidou, Giscard d'Estaing, Mitterand, Chirac, Kreisky, Eden, Wilson et el) into pro-Israel and pro-Arab, and showed how some of them (for example Willy Brandt) had to shift their stances according to situations. But this book also contains some factual errors most of which are trivial. I'd like to point out one thing which seemed to me more than trivial. In page 226 and 227, the author said,"In 1967 a cabal of army colonels seized power (in Cyprus), and held it for the next 7 years in an effort to press through enosis, a union of Cyprus with the Greek mainland. Yet all the colonels achieved for their effort was international isolation and a Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus in 1974." But according to 'Oxford Dictionary of Twentieth-Century World History,' (see page 154-155, 384) the coup occurred in 1974 instead of 1967. Despite this error, this book is too good for only 4 stars.

Another Sachar Gem!
Howard Sachar has done it again! Like his previous works, he has weaved another great tale. The book goes into detail about Israel's diplomatic efforts vis-a-vis the Europeans. The book deals with such as issues as German Reparations to Israel, European aid or lack of aid in Israel's quest for survival, the furtive German arms sales to Israel of the sixties, as well as relations with the various other European powers. Granted, much of the book is a "cut and paste" from his other books, but still a great effort. Finally, the book shows the "relevance" of German-Israeli relations. During the Gulf War, Hans Dietrich Genscher gave the Israeli's aid in the form of three submarines. One of them, the Dolphin, was just launched. These vessels are armed with nuclear missles. Given that the EU is moving towards forming a separate military command from NATO, and that the EU may become a new superpower, this book's importance should not be underestimated in understanding the future of European-Israeli relations. Undoubtedly, it will be the defining work for years to come on the subject; a masterpiece!