Israel jellemzők

Israel is a small and relatively young country, but its turbulent history has placed it squarely at the centre of the world stage. During two millennia the Jews, dispersed all over the world, prayed for a return to Zion. Until the nineteenth century, that dream seemed a fantasy, but then a secular Zionist movement was born and soon the initial trickle of Jewish immigrants to Palestine turned into a flood as Jews fled persecution in Europe. From these beginnings, Martin Gilbert traces the events and personalities that would lead to the dramatic declaration of Statehood in May 1948.
From that point on, Israel's history has been dominated by conflict: Suez, the Six Day War, the Yom Kippur War, the Lebanon and the Intifada. Using contemporary documents and eyewitness accounts, drawing on his own intimate knowledge of the country and its people, Martin Gilbert weaves together a seamless, page-turning history of a powerful and proud nation, and adds two new chapters to cover the last ten years, bringing the story up to date: the continuing conflicts, internal and external; the persistent plans and negotiations; and the ever-present avenues of hope.