Reuven Pedatzur

Avraham Ben-Zvi has been studying Israel-U.S. relations for nearly four decades, and now sums up his research in a sweeping survey. He is convinced that the current White House incumbent has changed the paradigm of those relations.

In the run-up to the second intifada, Military Intelligence officials believed Arafat wanted to keep talking and avoid fighting. New revealed papers, however, show that their boss, Amos Gilad, presented leaders with a starkly different picture: Palestinians planning an uprising to push Israel's hand.

Failures of politicians, rivalries between intelligence organizations and in-the-box thinking - all have contributed to a situation where Israel pays unreasonable prices for the return of captives.

This book of interviews with a former MI head would be important even if it included no more than one key insight.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak continues to drop hints and wink when he speaks about mysterious explosions in Iran.

The National Security Staff Law, would do wonders to improve the way the government makes policy.

Israel's policy makers now face a complicated dilemma regarding Iran's nuclear program: Should they work on the assumption that mutual deterrence of the Cold War variety is applicable to the Iranian situation?

The IAF can bomb Iran, he must tell the government, but ultimately the operation will not destroy the Iranian nuclear program, at best it can delay it.