The Politics and Strategy of Nuclear Weapons in the Middle East: Opacity, Theory, and Reality, 1960-1991 An Israeli Perspective

From Publishers Weekly
This dense, scholarly history doesn't offer dramatic revelations such as those in Seymour Hersh's The Samson Option, but rather a comprehensive portrait of the role of nuclear strategy in Israel's foreign policy. Aronson, a political scientist at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, has drawn on a wealth of disciplines and sources--including some in Hebrew and Arabic--to emphasize Israel's use of ``opacity,'' its undeclared but strongly hinted possession of nuclear weapons. He suggests that Israeli leader Ben-Gurion pursued the bomb in order to allow Arabs to reconcile themselves to coexistence ``without losing face.'' After discussing Arab-Israeli wars, the peace with Egypt, and the Israeli attack on the Iraqi nuclear reactor, the author argues that Defense Minister Ariel Sharon ``used a new language of opacity'' to extend the nuclear threat over the Occupied Territories. Aronson predicts that opacity will remain a strategy until a new Middle East order is established. For comparative purposes, he also looks at nuclear proliferation in India, North Korea and other emerging nuclear nations. Copyright 1992 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


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Aronson (political science, Hebrew U., Jerusalem) explains Israel's acquisition and political use of nuclear weapons as a central factor in its foreign policy over the last three decades, emphasizing Israeli and Arab perceptions of each other, the changing roles of the US and USSR, and the nuclear element in the Gulf War and the Intifada. Paper edition (unseen), $19.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)


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