David Ben-Gurion and the American Alignment for A Jewish State (Modern Jewish Experience)

Allon Gal ; [translated from the Hebrew, David S. Segal]

ISBN 10: 025332534X / ISBN 13: 9780253325341

Published by Jerusalem : Hebrew University Magnes Press, 1992

About this Item

280 pages ; 23 cm. Against the background of Kristallnacht and Britain's retreat from the Jewish Mandate for Palestine, David Ben-Gurion shaped a new Zionist foreign policy based on the assumed rise of the United States as a world power that would determine the future of the Middle East. This book traces the evolution of the demand for a Jewish state into a central and specific aim of Zionist policy and the interrelated process by which Ben-Gurion became increasingly oriented toward the United States and American Jewry at the expense of Zionism's historical connection with Great Britain. Based on new documentary evidence, Allon Gal's study charts Ben-Gurion's ascent from the leadership of the Yishuv (the Jewish community in Palestine) to prominence in the world Zionist and international diplomacy. The book also portrays the emergence of American Jewry as a political factor that strove to secure Jewish interests in an open and self-assured fashion. Distributed in North America by Indiana University Press.

Seller Inventory # PGMAGNES270

Bibliographic Details

• Title: David Ben-Gurion and the American Alignment for A Jewish State (Modern Jewish Experience)
• Publisher: Jerusalem : Hebrew University Magnes Press
• Publication Date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 025332534X
• ISBN 13: 9780253325341
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New
• Seller catalogs:
  • International Relations
  • American History
  • Judaica

About this title

Synopsis

" Gal... has written an impressive account of an important period in the history of political Zionism.... detailed, scholarly... " —Library Journal

"... important... " —Choice

"A provocative post-Zionist critique of the fundamental concepts of Jewish peoplehood, Zionism, and Israeli nationalism." —Choice

"The book is readable, structured and systematic, and for all its wideness of scope it maintains continuity and connections betrween the different topics discussed." —The Jerusalem Post

"This is a comprehensive and well documented study of the interaction between Ben-Gurion and other leaders between 1938 and 1942." —AJL Newsletter

"While this is an intensively detailed book, Gal always sustains his story and moves it ahead. He has written a fine study of a critical phase of Zionist and American Jewish history, as well as a revealing study of David Ben-Gurion." —Lloyd P. Gartner, Tel-Aviv University, Studies in Contemporary Jewry

Israel's military restraint, at America's request, during the recent Persian Gulf War is not so surprising when viewed in light of the Zionist-American bonds forged by David Ben-Gurion in 1948. Against the background of Kristallnacht and Britain's retreat from the Jewish mandate for Palestine, Ben-Gurion shaped a new Zionist foreign policy based on the assumed rise of the United States as a world power that would determine the future of the Middle East.

From the Back Cover

Against the background of Kristallnacht and Britain's retreat from the Jewish mandate for Palestine, David Ben-Gurion shaped a new Zionist foreign policy based on the assumed rise of the United States as a world power that would determine the future of the Middle East. This book traces the evolution of the demand for a Jewish state into a central and specific aim of Zionist policy and the interrelated process by which Ben-Gurion became increasingly oriented toward the United States and American Jewry at the expense of Zionism's historical connection with Great Britain. Based on new documentary evidence, Allon Gal's study charts Ben-Gurion's ascent from the leadership of the Yishuv (the Jewish community in Palestine) to prominence in world Zionist and international diplomacy. The book also portrays the emergence of American Jewry as a political factor that strove to secure Jewish interests in an open and self-assured fashion.