National Security and Public Opinion in Israel undertakes to depict the patterns of public opinion in Israel regarding national security policy. It analyzes some of the issues involved in the relationship between public opinion and the decisionmakers on national security issues.

National Security and Public Opinion in Israel undertakes to depict the patterns of public opinion in Israel regarding national security policy. It analyzes some of the issues involved in the relationship between public opinion and the decisionmakers on national security issues.

Several dramatic events preceded the elections to the Seventeenth Knesset on March 28, 2006, beginning with the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in August 2005 and its attendant and unprecedented removal of Jewish settlements and settlers, followed by major shifts among and within the various political parties. Most dramatic was the split in Likud when Prime Minister Ariel Sharon decided to form a new party, Kadima, leading to the breakup of the Likud party that Sharon had formed in 1973. This volume charts the 2006 elections.

Public opinion has played a crucial role in the transitions from war to peace in Israel since the 1967 Six Day war. Security Threatened is the first major analysis of the interactions among opinion, politics and policy in that period, based on opinion surveys of thousands of adult Jews conducted between 1962 and 1994. The public divided during those years into militant hardliners and more conciliatory security positions, and power either shifted between, or was shared by, the Likud and Labour parties. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, with the onset of the intifada, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the American victory in the Gulf War, all segments of the Israeli public became more conciliatory. Policy initiatives reflected shifts in political power which in turn magnified changes in public opinion. Leaders were constrained by public opinion and by perceptions of threat, but they could also alter policy if they had the will because opinion was rather equally divided; since most people had their minds made up, the opposition could not block their policy.

Public opinion has played a crucial role in the transitions from war to peace in Israel since the 1967 Six Day war. Security Threatened is the first major analysis of the interactions among opinion, politics and policy in that period, based on opinion surveys of thousands of adult Jews conducted between 1962 and 1994. The public divided during those years into militant hardliners and more conciliatory security positions, and power either shifted between, or was shared by, the Likud and Labour parties. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, with the onset of the intifada, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the American victory in the Gulf War, all segments of the Israeli public became more conciliatory. Policy initiatives reflected shifts in political power which in turn magnified changes in public opinion. Leaders were constrained by public opinion and by perceptions of threat, but they could also alter policy if they had the will because opinion was rather equally divided; since most people had their minds made up, the opposition could not block their policy.

Politics in Israel is an incisive guide to Israel's rich past, unpredictable present, and promising but undoubtedly turbulent future. In his new second edition, Asher Arian again takes a comprehensive look at the country's history, demography, economy, and sociology-and provides cogent analysis of its ever-changing role in the Middle East. Informed by the latest opinion polls, survey data, and election results, Arian clarifies the major issues facing Israeli culture and politics, and explains the complexities of Israel's political institutions, political behavior, and public policies. He chronicles the significant events in this dynamic nation's relatively brief experience of self-governance and introduces readers to the exceptional personalities who have defined its domestic landscape. New and expanded coverage in the second edition features: the impact of immigration from the former Soviet Union the adoption and cancellation of the direct election of the prime minister the constitutional revolution occasioned by the expansion of judicial review the weakening of political parties the decentralization of the economy and emergence of a stronger capitalist ethic the political impact of the second intifada and the dominance of Ariel Sharon

Social scientists from Israel and North America address issues such as whether the elections were a referendum on the return of the Territories, the roles of the PLO and the US, how technological changes in political communications and opinion polls affected the results, and the contributions of women, Arabs and various religious groups to the chan

Leading social scientists from Israeli and American universities, using different methods and representing diverse intellectual traditions, address the precedent-setting events of Israel's 1996 elections. The contributors discuss the meaning of collective identity, the role of religion and nationalism in modern Israel, the political behavior of Israeli Arabs, the secrets of success of the immigrant party. Also discussed are issues such as the impact of the direct election law on party organization, primaries and coalition-formation calculations, the repeated electoral failure of Shimon Peres, and the role of the media in the election campaign.

The 1996 elections in Israel represented a "first" in Israeli politics in many ways. For the first time Israelis directly elected their prime minister and, in simultaneous but separate elections, they elected their 120-member Knesset (parliament). Also, it was first time that elections were held after the mutual recognition of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization following the Oslo accords and it was the first election held after the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rubin.