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"This Handbook provides a comprehensive account of contemporary Israeli diplomacy and analyses the changing dynamics of Israel's bilateral relations with other states and the international community over the past seventy-five years. Research into Israeli foreign policy has been largely sidelined by debates over security, domestic politics and the Israel-Palestine conflict. This Handbook addresses the gap in the literature. Comprising 31 essays written by leading scholars of Israel, the handbook explicates how domestic, societal and economic interests, together with changing Israeli narratives of identity and location, shape and impact Israeli foreign policy. It illustrates how those factors have influenced foreign policy choices and the instruments - economic cooperation, arms sales, military training, and intelligence sharing - that Israel has utilized in order to promote its interests and build relationships with countries and actors throughout the world. Ultimately, the Handbook refutes Kissinger's famous dictum that Israel has no foreign policy, and instead follows the whims of its domestic politics. By contrast, this Handbook highlights the rich, diverse and changing tapestry of Israel's foreign relations. Written in an accessible style, the book is designed for students taking courses in Israel studies and Middle Eastern studies, as well as a general readership interested in Israeli affairs"--

The State of Israel is an unlikely powerhouse in a troubled region. Since 1948, Israel has retained its status as a democratic state without interruption. An investor-friendly environment and skilled workforce has led to a thriving economy, whilst the Israel Defence Forces are one of the most powerful armed forces in the world. Yet Israel is also blighted by a plethora of foreign, domestic and security challenges, some of which threaten the very fabric of the state. The cost of living continues to soar; political corruption appears endemic and the conflict with the Palestinians divides domestic opinion and sours Israeli foreign relations. Thus, contemporary Israel remains perplexing, resisting any straightforward categorizations or generalizations. This book provides a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary analysis of the external and internal threats, opportunities and issues facing contemporary Israel. The book comprises sixteen chapters written by recognized authorities in the field of Israeli Studies. Together, the chapters offers a detailed overview of Israel while separately they provide stand-alone coverage of specific topics under discussion. Part I examines the Israeli Political System, such as the Knesset, political parties and extra-parliamentary politics; Part II addresses issues in Israeli society, including the Israeli economy, divides between Jews and Arabs, religious and secular Israelis and the struggle for gender equality; and Part III focuses on Security, Geopolitical and Foreign Policy Challenges, looking at relations between Israel and the Jewish diaspora, Israeli foreign policy, borders and settlements and regional security threats. By filling an important gap in the study of contemporary Israel, this book is of interest to multiple audiences.

Abstract
Annexation attempts threaten international security and the rules-based world order. Yet, studies of annexation are rare, whilst the scant relevant literature is great-power centric. This article therefore asks why some non-great power annexations succeed, whereas others do not. Applying Putnam's two-level game framework, it analyses an occupier's: (1) domestic politics; (2) international relations; and (3) interactions between these two levels of analysis. It applies this framework to Israeli policy in two specific cases: partial annexation, where Israel annexed East Jerusalem but not the entire West Bank (1967); and Israel's comprehensive but aborted West Bank annexation (2020). This article finds that when the policy would yield maximum domestic returns and minimal global opprobrium, Israel's leaders enacted annexation. They refrained from doing so when this synchronization was absent. These findings illustrate the utility of the two-level game framework for explaining non-great powers' decision-making and their territorial policies in particular.

This article examines what factors cause states to withdraw from foreign territorial interventions. Scholarly analyses of withdrawal are rare, whilst within the broader research area of territorial conflict, studies are often dichotomized into neorealist or constructivist-inspired works, emphasizing a select few variables and one level of analysis alone. We argue these excessive simplifications of international politics lack utility for understanding territorial withdrawal. Instead, we employ the principles of strategic theory informed by a Clausewitzian paradigm, and construct a framework of three "arenas of bargaining," spanning multiple variable-types and levels of analysis, to explain territorial withdrawal. In so doing, the analysis delineates a comprehensible and novel theoretical framework for understanding an under-researched policy problem.

Stuart A. Cohen and Aharon Klieman, eds., Routledge Handbook on Israeli Security (New York: Routledge, 2018), 350 pp. Hardback, $220.00.Wendy Pearlman and Boaz Atzili, Triadic Coercion: Israel's Targeting of States That Host Nonstate Actors (New York: Columbia University Press, 2018), 367 pp. Hardback, $65.00.Dmitry Shumsky, Beyond the Nation-State: The Zionist Political Imagination from Pinsker to Ben-Gurion (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2018), 320 pp. Hardback, $40.00.Moshe Hellinger, Isaac Hershkowitz, and Bernard Susser, Religious Zionism and the Settlement Project: Ideology, Politics, and Civil Disobedience (New York: SUNY Press, 2018), 348 pp. Hardback, $95.00.Avi Sagi and Dov Schwartz, Religious Zionism and the Six-Day War: From Realism to Messianism (New York: Routledge, 2018), 134 pp. Hardback, $140.00.Yoav Peled and Horit Herman Peled, The Religionization of Israeli Society (New York: Routledge, 2018), 250 pp. Hardback, $150.00.Joel Peters and Rob Geist Pinfold, eds., Understanding Israel: Political, Societal and Security Challenges (New York: Routledge, 2018), 292 pp. Hardback, $145.00. Paperback, $51.95. Kindle, $25.98.Orit Bashkin, Impossible Exodus: Iraqi Jews in Israel (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2017), 320 pp. Hardback, $85.00.Shapiro Prize Winner:
Diego Rotman, The Stage as a Temporary Home: On Dzigan and Shumacher's Theater (1927–1980) [in Hebrew] (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 2017), 354 pp. Paperback, $33.00.