Israel’s Security Men: The Arab-Fighting Political Careers of Moshe Dayan, Yitzhak Rabin, Ariel Sharon and Ehud Barak

From 1949 to 2000, Moshe Dayan, Yitzhak Rabin, Ariel Sharon, and Ehud Barak conducted Israel’s successful (and unsuccessful) talks with its Arab neighbors, from the armistice negotiations to Kissinger’s shuttle diplomacy, to Camp David I and the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, and finally to the Oslo peace process. The four successful generals who became politicians are covered in four separate biographies, which discuss the early life and military career of each subject and his subsequent political career. Two other military politicians—Yigal Allon and Ezer Weizman—are covered within these four biographies. An overview of the phenomenon of military politicians in Israel is given and an appendix compares it with similar experiences in South Africa and the United States.