"We fight, therefore we are." This revision of Cartesian wisdom was enunciated
by the late premier of Israel, Menachim Begin. It is the leitmotif of this
brilliant study of the military origins of modern Israel. J. Bowyer Bell
argues that the members of Irgun, Lehi (the Stern Gang), and the Zionist
underground in British mandated Palestine had clear motives for the violent
path they took: the creation of a sovereign homeland for the Jewish people in
oppressed lands. These advocates of terror pitted themselves against not only
the British and the Arabs, but also against less violent brethren like Ben
Gurion, Moshe Dayan, and Yitzhak Rabin.This is the definitive story of
desperate, dedicated revolutionaries who were driven to conclude that lives
must be taken if Israel were to live. The dynamite bombing of the King David
Hotel, the assassination of Lord Moyne in Cairo, and Count Bernardotte ,in
Palestine were but a few acts of terror which forced the British out of the
Middle East. Terror Out of Zion evaluates whether these acts were extremist or
necessary, and whether these men and women were fanatics or freedom
fighters.Terror Out of Zion serves as a primer for those who would understand
contemporary political divisions in Israel. It is based on careful historical
research and interviews with surviving members of the Irgun, chronicling
bombings, assassinations, hah- breadth prison escapes, and endless cycles of
retaliation in the terror that gave birth to Israel, but, no less, continues
to inform its political relations. Bell has fashioned an adventure story that
also explains the sources of current tensions and frictions within
Israel.Publishers' Weekly wrote that "Bell's book crackles with suspense and
explodes with tales of carnage and violence; it could hardly be otherwise. Yet
he writes with compassion and insight into the black despair that engendered
the terrorist's brutal deeds." And a highly laudatory New York Times review
said "excellent ... a skillfully written, fast-paced anecdotal narrative of
one of the bloodiest and least documented chapters of Zionist history . . .
the story is more than mere history; it is detailed portrait of the
formulating experiences of Israel's new leadership." Read more