Israeli State Terrorism: An Analysis of the Sharett Diaries

Since Menahem Begin came to power in May 1977, Israel's international position has deteriorated sharply. Today a growing number of Israelis are uneasily aware that it is Israel rather than the Arabs whom the outside world blames for the failure to reach a peaceful settlement in the Middle East. They are disconcerted by the realization that they can no longer count on automatic Western (and not necessarily even on American) support for the policy which has served Israel so well in the past: the policy of provoking Arab hostility and then taking advantage of it to carry out a carefully prepared plan for territorial expansion.

For those who still doubt that this has been the consistent policy of successive Israeli governments ever since the establishment of the state, an impressive body of evidence is just coming to light. The diaries of Moshe Sharett, who was Israel's first foreign minister under David Ben-Gurion and then briefly (1954-5 5) prime minister, have recently been published - after unsuccessful attempts by the Israeli establishment to suppress or at least censor them - in Hebrew. A first translation into English has now been made, though not yet published.

Livia Rokach is an Italian writer and journalist of Palestinian origin. Author of No to a Golden Ghetto, Vietnam: Against Genocide, The Open Wounds, The Proofs and a forthcoming book on the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, she is a Fellow of the Amsterdam-based Transnational Institute and the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C.

Michael Adams is the Editor of Middle East International (London).