The Covenant and the Sword: Arab-Israeli Relations, 1948-56

In January 1949 the first Arab-Israeli war ended. In October 1956 the second began with Israel’s invasion of Egypt. What happened in those intervening seven years to persuade the Israelis to attack is the subject of this book, first published in 1965. Israel’s relations with the Arab countries formed only a sub-plot in a complex, many-layered drama. The main characters were the Arabs and the Great Powers. The story moved in three main themes: the argument amongst the Great Powers over who w...