The uncertain nature of future threats to U.S. forces presents interesting challenges to military planners. As the emphasis on the littoral environment and urban warfare continues, valuable lessons can be learned from Israel's swift and successful drive into Lebanon in 1982. Operation Peace for Galilee was epitomized by expert planning and operational excellence, as the IDF achieved its stated aim of establishing a PLO-free 40 kilometer buffer zone north of its border within 40 hours. Yet, as defense minister Ariel Sharon manipulated its conduct, the operation grew beyond the scope of IDF capabilities. By incorrectly identifying the PLO center of gravity as its military "fighters", the Israelis expanded their aims and found themselves in a two month siege of Beirut that resulted in mounting casualties and rising domestic dissatisfaction. The IDF was caught unprepared for urban warfare. Its heavy armor forces were more suited to the desert terrain of its previous wars, rather than the mountainous and urban terrain of Lebanon, which favored the defender. A planned 72 hour operation lasted 3 months and resulted in a 3 year occupation of Lebanon. While full of operational excellence at its outset, the operation protracted and ended in strategic failure and erosion of domestic support, resulting in the resignations of both the president and defense minister.

The Druze and the Maronites, arguably the two founding communities of modern Lebanon, have the reputation of being primordial enemies. Makram Rabah attempts to gauge the impact of collective memory on determining the course and the nature of the conflict between these communities in Mount Lebanon. He takes as his focus 'the War of the Mountain' in 1982, reconstructing the events of this war through the framework of collective remembrance and oral history.He challenges the idea that these group identities were constructed by their respective centres of power within the Maronite and Druze community, providing an alternative to the prevailing meta-narrative. Telling the stories of the many people who took part in these events, or who simply suffered as a consequence, helps to expose the intrinsic motives which led to this conflict and makes a valuable contribution to the field of Lebanese historical scholarship.

The first book about the 1982 war in Lebanon, Operation Peace for Galilee is based on hundreds of interviews with the soldiers of both sides, the guerrillas who fought in it, and the civilians caught in the middle. Much of the detail is drawn from in-depth conversations with the major Israeli commanders who planned and fought the battles. Author and former soldier Richard Gabriel traveled every major route of advance taken by the Israeli army, and visited the sites of important battles, including Tyre, Sidon, the Beirut-Damascus highway, the Bekaa Valley, and Beirut. Materials, notes, and articles dealing with matters of national security are routinely submitted to Israeli censors, but Gabriel was able to circumvent this process. His is therefore the only analysis which considers the Israeli Defense Force's successes and failures in the war in Lebanon and the problems resulting from the major expansion of the IDF since the 1973 war.

This is a print on demand edition of a hard to find publication. The fact that the outcome of the 2006 Hezbollah-Israeli War was, at best, a stalemate for Israel has confounded military analysts. Long considered the most professional and powerful army in the Middle East, with a history of impressive military victories against its enemies, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) emerged from the campaign with its enemies undefeated and its prestige tarnished. This historical analysis of the war includes an examination of IDF and Hezbollah doctrine prior to the war, as well as an overview of the operational and tactical problems encountered by the IDF during the war. The IDF ground forces were tactically unprepared and untrained to fight against a determined Hezbollah force. ¿An insightful, comprehensive examination of the war.¿ Illustrations.

A scathing and brilliant revisionist history, Defending the Holy Land is the most comprehensive analysis to date of Israel's national security and foreign policy, from the inception of the State of Israel to the present. Book jacket.