The Yom Kippur War: The Epic Encounter That Transformed the Middle East

The Yom Kippur War: The Epic Encounter That Transformed the Middle East | Abraham Rabinovich | A thumping good read.

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The Yom Kippur War...

	The Yom Kippur War: The Epic Encounter That Transformed the Middle East Abraham Rabinovich Schocken, 2005 - 592 pages average customer review:based on 24 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

In this galvanizing account of the most dramatic of the Arab-Israeli hostilities, Abraham Rabinovich, who reported the conflict for the Jerusalem Post, transports us into the midst of the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

Rabinovich?s masterly narrative begins as Israel convinces itself there will be no war, while Egypt and Syria plot the two-front conflict. Then, on Yom Kippur, Saturday, October 6, 1973, we see Arab armies pouring across the shattered Bar-Lev Line in the Sinai and through the Golan defenses. Even the famed Israeli air force could not stop them. On the Golan alone, Syria sent 1,460 tanks against Israel?s 177, and 115 artillery batteries against Israel?s 11. And for the first time, footsoldiers wielding anti-tank weapons were able to stop tank charges, while surface-to-air missiles protected those troops from air attack

Rabinovich takes us into this inferno and into the inner sanctums of military and political decision making. He allows us to witness the dramatic turnaround that had the Syrians on the run by the following Wednesday and the great counterattack across the Suez Canal that, once begun, took international intervention to halt.

Using extensive interviews with both participants and observers, and with access to recently declassified materials, Rabinovich shows that the drama of the war lay not only in the battles but also in the apocalyptic visions it triggered in Israel, the hopes and fears it inspired in the Arab world, the heated conflicts on both sides about the conduct of the war, and the concurrent American face-off with the Soviets in Washington, D.C., Moscow, and the Mediterranean. A comprehensive account of one of the pivotal conflicts of the twentieth century.

From the Hardcover edition.

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How the modern middle east was formed

This book does an excellent job of recounting the entire Yom Kippur War from both the military and political standpoints. The first 100 pages cover the lead up to the war and the diplomatic maneuverings on both sides. It assesses the United States and Soviet Unions role and the fear of what detente would mean for the participants. You even see the ironic nature of Jordan's King warning Israel of the impending attack. Israel left itself blind to the possibility of an attack and was caught completely off guard. When Egypt and Syria launched their invasion it was a devastating blow for Israel. Syria proved its military ineptness fairly quickly and although recapturing part of the Golan proved that it was not going to advance much further. Even the intervention of other Arab powers, most notably the Iraqi's, were unable to break the Israeli hold. Egypt would be another story entirely.
Building the bridges literally in the face of the Israelis, the Egyptians crossed the Suez and attacked driving the Israelis back. Israel's own Patton, Arik Sharon, delivered some devastating attacks to the Egyptians and could have done more if not held back. The Israeli air force was hampered severely by SAM sights in Egypt. All of these aspects of war are very well covered and I will leave the surprising twists and turns out. One of the more notable parts is the Israeli reaction to the cease fire which they see as limiting their options and their attempts to flaunt it are many. The Israelis go so far as to get bogged down in invading Suez city. The end result of the war was a great victory for Egypt and a sober realization for Israel. This books analysis is top notch and does a wonderful job of showing what the wars significance is. If you want to understand the modern Middle East this is an essential book to read.

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A thumping good read.

Just as I said, a thumping good read. Extremely well-written, from the Israeli point of view (for the mist part) this is a very engaging page-turner, that does a marvelous job of illustrating the war of 1973 in both military and political terms. Highly recommended.

As close to combat as you can get, but too tedious

On a par with Michael B. Oren's 'Six Day War' as to detailed accounts of the minute by minute war in question. Almost 600 pages that sound repetitive over and over again. The difference with Mr. Oren's book is that this one doesn't deal so much with diplomacy and behind-the-battleground scenes. It's down to the level of tank and soldier; you're right there on the sand dunes with the men doing the fighting, the wounded and the killed, the officers and the rank and file. This is good; this is fine, to a point... because scenes like these happen all through the book, so much that one doesn't know where it is this time, who're we (the Jews) fighting (is it the irakis, the syrians, the egyptians...). It's just overwhelming with names, actions, decision-making.

I wish there was some analysis, some pause in all the action to see things from a more detached and calm point of view, to find our bearings. But I'm in page 400 and I haven't seen any. I'm sure the book is fabulous, if you only can get focused all the time without losing the thread.

I just wonder (after reading Oren's book and this one) what's the motivation for writing to us, readers, books with so much detail -unrefutable data-. Is it it's imperative need to seem impartial, objective? Vanity of vanities. Israel is such a black-or-white hot topic that no account, no matter how full of proof it is, is going to convince the public. And those who are for Israel (not blindly, on the contrary: because we've seen proof enough) are going to be pretty much agravated by the style used in the telling.

Yes, it's seen from the Israeli side. Could you imagine any impartial reporting from the ranks of the Arabs? I recommend to read this book, in spite of the negative comments I made, because it's a heck of a lot of info. Funny how the Arabs were expecting to meet ape-looking Jews, and how candidly surprised they were to see they were normal. Anecdotes like these are practically the only comment you'll find, and which I am missing so much; because little things tell a lot.

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Comprehensive, well written, but too long

Rabinovitz's account of this watershed Israeli-Arab War is complete and comprehensive to a fault. Virtually every detail of every battle is examined, as the very numerous number of personalities involved in the command structure, from Prime Minister Meir, to platoon leaders. I found it difficult to follow at times, because of this excessive detail. Although several battlefield maps are shown, the resolution is insufficient in the Kindle edition. I downloaded other war maps from the net. Even with these, I was unable to find some places, such as an important Arab stronghold known as "Missouri."

While certainly not for the beginner, this is nevertheless a complete account of the war for more advanced students. It appears to be well documented and authoritative.

Especially interesting is the author's account of U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's master "shuttle diplomacy," and brokerage of a cease fire. carefully timed to favor the Israelis'. I also complement the author on his analysis of the Israeli "post-mortums," and the disposition of many of the key players after the war/

Certainly to be recommended for the serious student of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Just know what you're getting into. Length in terms of pages is hard to quantify, although the paper edition is 600+ pages. This is the only reason I didn't give it a 4 or higher, i.e. lack of brevity.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

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