A Concubine in the Middle East: American-Israeli Relations by Ezra Sohar. Gefen Books, Hewlett NY 11557 (gefenbooks@compuserve.com), 1999. 246 pp. ISBN: 965 229 224 9. Translated from the Hebrew by Laurence Weinbaum; Hebrew edition published by Dvir-Zmora-Bitan, 1995.

A concubine is not accorded the respectful status of a legitimate wife. Though she is granted occasional gifts and favors, her long-term welfare is not provided for by her rich and powerful dominant partner. The concubine of the book's title is Israel. The imagery serves as an analog of the way America treats Israel.

Since the Cairo conference during World War II, the United State has assumed the mantle of defender of the Free World. That it was in fact the chief antagonist of Marxist totalitarianism cannot be denied. However, America certainly has never been a consistent and reliable ally in Israel's struggle to maintain its viability as a Western-style state in the sea of Muslim absolutist regimes.

Protecting the future of its ally, Israel, was NEVER a primary aim of American Middle Eastern policy. In all administrations, even those usually considered pro-Israel - such as Truman's and Reagan's - the need of the alliance was held secondary to American "long range" interests. Israel's military and economic successes were always brought to a halt and our ally deprived of the full fruits of victory. Hamstringing Israel was regularly followed by the behind-the-scenes arming and mollifying of Muslim autocrats. This clearly has been a corner stone of the "oil flow insurance" policy that the US State Department inherited from its British predecessors. As Sohar points out, American courting of Arab despots is almost a guarantee of long term policy failure.

Professor Sohar's book presents, in increasingly anger-generating detail, this history of Israel's second class international citizenship. Each Israeli military triumph, starting with the State's very survival in the War of Independence, was diminished and nibbled away by supposed "even-handed" embargos, enforced evacuations of reconquered homeland and the imposition of aggressor status on the people who were defending their very existence. He very aptly terms the process the "Dwarfing of Israel." In the sense that each episode has deprived Israeli society of what would have been a natural growth, it is truly analogous to a man's arm withered by diminished blood supply. It is not merely Dwarfing, it is also the repeated distortion of an evolving social structure.

The book's detailed dissection of American policy and Israel's acquiescence is perhaps best summed as:

"...reducing the size of territory under Israeli control, was, and remains, a consistent position of the United States. Before the State of Israel was declared, attempts were made to prevent the establishment of a Jewish state, and to impose a United Nations Trusteeship. Thereafter there was entusiastic support for the "Bernadotte Plan" which aimed at keeping the Negev and Jerusalem outside of Israel's borders. During the Israeli War of Independence, and following it, Washington repeatedly demanded the retreat of Israeli forces, and a reduction in Israel's territorial area. IT IS EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO EXPLAIN THE CONTINUOUS QUEST FOR DWARFING THE NEW STATE UNLESS THE INTENT WAS TO SEE IT EVENTUALLY DISAPPEAR FROM THE MAP." [emphasis added] (pgs. 226-227)

Sohar's solution is that Israel must redeclare her independence - this time of America. The viability of this conclusion seems clear to this reviewer.

Israel's technological growth has reduced her dependence on American arms to the vanishing point. This was evident even in 1999 when the book was first published. The equally pernicious dependence of Israel on American financial loans, military aid and loan guarantees, is equally unnecessary. Israeli GDP has increased even during the present Oslo War.

The book was published in 1999. Given the events since then that have underscored his thesis, I would think it high time for a second edition. The social survival of Israel in the face of the new Intifada, and the pernicious and impudent intrusions of Road Maps, is a tale to be retold. It would be desirable to add a reasonable index to a new edition.

Lewis Lipkin is a member of the editorial staff and a frequent contributor to Think-Israel.

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