ABSTRACT
'Si vis pacem para bellum’ (If you want peace, prepare for war). Quite apart from constituting sound strategic advice, this ancient Roman prescription also provides an appropriate normative description of the policies pursued by several states moving towards accommodation with their former enemies. Especially is this so in Israel, where sensitivity to the possible risks inherent in the current peace process is still high and where security concerns retain their virtually axiomatic priority on the formal national agenda. In this respect, as in many others, the tone was set by the late Yitzhak Rabin, and was emphasized in the open letter he addressed to all personnel in the Israel Defence Force (IDF) as early as June 1992:
We, for our part, shall leave no stone unturned on the road to peace... As far as you are concerned, the possibility of peace can mean only one thing: the strengthening of the security framework... Soldiers and commanders! It is the task of statesmen to bring peace. Your task is to prepare for war. The peace talks must not be allowed to distract our attention. 1
