Beyond Alliance : Israel in U.S. Foreign Policy

Acclaimed by scholars, Beyond Alliance is an elegantly reasoned and nonpolemical discussion of American policy towards Israel. In seeking the why behind the privileged relationship, the author takes the unusual approach of exploring the American foreign policy establishment’s competing views of Israel as a strategic asset and Israel as a burden. Drawing his source material from experts writing both in general media and in specialized international and strategic studies journals, he allows proponents of the opposing positions to speak for themselves without editorializing. Mansour’s inquiry is divided into three phases: the forging of Israel’s strategic role from 1948 to 1973, the reassessment of that role from the 1973 war to 1980, and the strategic alliance and the New World Order from 1981 to 1992. While addressing his overall theme, he weaves into the discussion penetrating insights concerning the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Suez crisis, the Camp David Accords, Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, and the influence of the pro-Israel lobby on the Jewish community and American society as a whole.