Soviet-Israeli War, 1969-1973
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Russia's forceful reentry into the Middle Eastern arena, and the accentuated continuity of Soviet policy and methods of the 1960s and '70s, highlight the topicality of this groundbreaking study, which confirms the USSR's role in shaping Middle Eastern and global history. This book covers the peak of the USSR's direct military involvement in the Egyptian-Israeli conflict. The head-on clash between US-armed Israeli forces and some 20,000 Soviet servicemen with state-of-the-art weaponry turned the Middle East into the hottest front of the Cold War. The Soviets' success in this war of attrition paved the way for their planning and support of Egypt's cross-canal offensive in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Ginor and Remez challenge a series of long-accepted notions as to the scope, timeline and character of the Soviet intervention and overturn the conventional view that detente with the US induced Moscow to restrain Egyptian ambitions to recapture of the land lost to Israel in 1967. Between this analytical rethink and the introduction of an entirely new genre of sources-- memoirs and other publications by Soviet veterans themselves--The Soviet-Israeli War paves the way for scholars to revisit this pivotal moment in world history.
Isabella Ginor (former Soviet/Russian affairs specialist, Ha'aretz newspaper) and Gideon Remez (former head of foreign news, Israel Radio) are fellows of the Truman Institute, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Their previous book, Foxbats over Dimona (2007), won the silver medal of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.