The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World

Avi Shlaim’s book ‘The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World‘ argues that Israeli foreign policy after 1948 followed the “iron wall” thinking of the Zionist thinker Ze’ev Jabotinsky from the 1920s, where an iron wall of absolute security and force was the prerequisite for any Jewish state before it embarked on negotiations with the Arabs. Shlaim traces both implicit and explicit reference to this idea throughout Israel’s history, in both words and actions. The book has been updated with new material and interviews with key participants, and it remains a critical work on fostering understanding of the Israel-Palestine conflict.