Rosenthal explores a people who, while consciously living in a war zone, contribute to one of the most vibrant civic societies anywhere. It is the story of ordinary people living in an extraordinary place.

Renowned historian Tom Segev strips away national myths to present a critical and clear-eyed chronicle of the year immediately following Israel’s foundation. “Required reading for all who want to understand the Arab-Israeli conflict…the best analysis…of the problems of trying to integrate so many people from such diverse cultures into one political body” (The New York Times Book Review). Historian and journalist Tom Segev stirred up controversy in Israel upon the first publication of 1949. It was a landmark book that told a different story of the country’s early years, one that wasn’t taught in schools or shown in popular culture. Rather than painting the idealized picture of the Israel’s founding in 1948, after the wreckage of the Holocaust, Segev reveals gritty underside behind the early years. The new country of Israel faced challenges on all sides. Day-to-day life was severe, marked by austerity and food shortages; Israeli society was fractured between traditional and secular camps; Jewish immigrants from Middle-Eastern countries faced discrimination and second-class treatment; and clashes between settlers and the Arabs would set the tone for relations for the following decades, hardening attitudes and creating a violent cycle of retaliation. Drawing on journal entries, letters, declassified government documents, and more, 1949 is a richly detailed look at the friction between the idealism of the Zionist movement and the cold realities of history. Decades after its publication in the United States, Segev’s groundbreaking book is still required reading for anyone who wants to understand Israel’s past and future.

With an experienced journalist's eye, La Guardia offers a close look at the Israelis as they come to terms with the "post-Zionist" demolition of national myths and the Palestinians as they try to build their own state. 16 illustrations.

Bulding Effective Busness Relationship with Osraelis.

Refreshing and revealing in equal measure, this innovative volume conducts a critical/self--critical exploration of the impact of culture on the ill-fated Oslo peace process. The authors negotiators and scholars alike demolish stereotypes as they construct an unusually subtle and sophisticated understanding of how culture influences negotiating styles. Culture, they argue, did not cause the Oslo breakdown but it did play an influential, intervening role at several levels: coloring the thinking of political leaders, shaping domestic politics on both sides, and affecting each side s evaluation of the other s beliefs and intentions.After an overview by William Quandt of the history of the Oslo process and the impact of international factors such as U.S. mediation, the volume presents a detailed analysis of first Palestinian, and then Israeli negotiating styles between 1993 and 2001. Omar Dajani, a former legal advisor to the Palestinian team, explains how elements of Palestinian identity and national development have hobbled the Palestinians ability to negotiate effectively. Aharon Klieman, a distinguished Israeli analyst, traces a long-standing clash between diplomatic and security subcultures within the Israeli political elite and reveals how Israeli identity has helped create a negotiating style that opts for short-term gains while undermining the prospects for a lasting agreement. Drawing on these insights, Tamara Wittes concludes the volume by offering not only a fresh appreciation of culture s influence on interethnic negotiations but also lessons for future negotiators in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Read the review from Foreign Affairs."

From well-known leaders making life-and-death decisions to ordinary people who have overcome incredible loss to do inspirational things, meet the Israelis who thrive against all odds and learn how you can too. ISResilience is a study of a nation that has had to collectively and individually hang tough like no other country on earth. Imbued in Israel's DNA is the understanding that survival isn't optional - it's a necessity. Any Israeli could have given testimony for this book. Israelis routinely carry on with their day-to-day lives not just when things are calm and peaceful but when rockets are launched at them, during official conflicts and wars and unofficial waves of gruesome terrorism. And they don't just survive - they thrive.Each chapter of this book profiles a diverse, compelling Israeli personality - some famous, some not, but all exceptional - and traces the characteristic that unites them all. The life lessons extrapolated from these interviewees can teach every one of us to be stronger people. Written by a communications expert and Israel analyst together with a pioneering psychologist in the field of resilience research and treatment, ISResilience brings today's most in-demand skill to life and shows how we all can benefit from the trait embodied by the nation once admired by Princess Diana as "a plucky little country."Part-history, part-biography, part-self-help manual, ISResilience is a study of a nation that has had to collectively and individually hang tough like no other country on earth. Each chapter comprises an interview with a compelling Israeli personality some famous, some not, but all exceptional profiles them, and traces the characteristic that unites them all resilience - extrapolating from them life lessons that can teach everyone of us to be stronger people.From well-known leaders making life-and-death decisions to ordinary people who have overcome incredible loss to do inspirational things meet the Israelis that thrive against all odds, and learn how you can too. Absorb yourself in the stories of people who: toughed it out in a Soviet Gulag to emerge a human rights iconovercame disability to pioneer tech helping paraplegics walk againfell from the sky, beating death and emerging an Olympic herowithstood 90% body burns to lead an iconic victory in battlesurvived the Nazis turning from child orphan refugee to spiritual leaderbroke through the glass ceiling to become a female Colonelwent from having limbs blown off to winning high officeovercame death threats to find his voice as an Arab in the Jewish Stateclimbed Mount Everest to forgo reaching the peak in order to save a lifegave up NBA fame to take a tiny country to basketball glorygot elected to parliament, refusing to have others in her community define what a women could achieveturned unbearable grief into a promise to ease the pain of otherswalked barefoot from Africa to reach the Promised Land ...and learn the keys to their resilience.

This guide, based on first-hand, day-by-day survival of over three decades in Israel, will help you to first understand, then gradually accept, and eventually almost conform to the Israeli mentality, which in turn will enable you to first look like, then gradually behave like, and eventually almost become a real Israeli. With tongue firmly in cheek, the author takes some affectionate, punning jabs at his adoptive homeland's language, people, lifestyle, and land.