Very Little Room for Diplomacy In ‘Fortress Israel’
Patrick Tyler’s new book, Fortress Israel, makes it hard to believe Israel’s leaders will allow much more time for a diplomatic resolution in Iran, writes Al-Monitor's Barbara Slavin. Their military background predisposes Israeli leaders to seek military solutions, argues Tyler, tactics which have turned the country into an isolated fortress.
Will Israel attack Iran or won’t it?
Reading Patrick Tyler’s provocative new book, Fortress Israel, it is hard to have confidence that Israel’s leaders will allow much more time for efforts at a diplomatic resolution to the standoff over Iran's nuclear program.
Tyler, a veteran former reporter for the New York Times and Washington Post, retells the history of Israel though its wars and other military operations, noting that Israel has frequently employed massive and disproportionate force as well as covert actions of questionable morality to gain territory, avenge attacks and destroy mortal threats before they can mature.
The book argues, however, that such tactics have cost Israel opportunities for peace, turning the country into a new Sparta — a military fortress “in a steel cage” that is “more isolated than ever” in a volatile region.
