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ISRAEL A High Price: The Triumphs and Failures of Israeli Counterterrorism, by Daniel Byman. Oxford, UK and New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. 496 pages. $34.95.
Daniel Byman's A High Price; The Triumphs and Failures of Israeli Counterterrorism - much more than a book about terrorism - is a history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, in which terrorism has played such a central role. Byman's fundamental argument is straightforward: Israel is an international laboratory for terrorism and counterterrorism (CT), and both its successes and failures can provide an invaluable guide to all countries confronting the issue today. As he notes, virtually every CT tactic employed by the US in recent years was invented and tried first by Israel.
The book highlights a number of important truths and dilemmas. Arab terrorism predates Israeli independence and reflects a fundamental hostility to its existence, not just, or even primarily, a reaction to the occupation of 1967 and settlements - the justification typically proffered by Palestinians. Palestinian terrorists, including suicide bombers, are not necessarily poor, uneducated misfits, or religious fanatics, but often the opposite, and it is hatred, rather than deprivation, that drives them. Israel's successes in the battle against terrorism have stemmed not from the occasional spectacular exploit, such as...