ABSTRACT
Israel was born in war and has been subjected throughout its history to frequent attacks and constant threat by its Arab neighbors. Confidence-building measures (CBMs) play a potentially vital role in shaping Israeli attitudes on the substantive core of Arab-Israeli relations, to the point where they are almost certainly a precondition for progress in the resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict. By contrast, Arab-Israeli relations lack most of the enabling conditions of the Helsinki/Stockholm model. The history of the Arab-Israeli conflict is replete with arrangements, particularly limited forces and demilitarized zones that certainly appear to qualify as CBM. The emphasis on near-term military considerations reflects Israel’s worldview, which is a function of perceived Arab intentions, the regional and international political environment, and its own geomilitary circumstances, i.e., Arab and Israeli capabilities and resources. Israel’s efforts to guarantee its security unilaterally are complicated by the parameters of the Arab-Israeli relationship.
