ABSTRACT
The Arab-Israeli conflict is fraught with political complexity. It entails long-standing, entrenched views on the part of all the participants, direct and indirect, and is very heavily charged with emotion. The State of Israel’s basic problem is the extreme disproportion in forces and potential between herself and her neighbors, in the framework of a continuous state of belligerency. Israel has to deal simultaneously with the immediate problems of construction of a state, ingathering of the Jewish People, creation of a new society and a strong economy – while preparing the country to make her viable, competitive, progressive and free. Israel would like to see a stable Middle East, devoid of militancy, expansionism, violence and the tendency to settle differences of opinion by liquidation of the disagreeing party.
