Return To Zion

Return to Zion

The history of modern Israel is a story of ambition, violence, and survival. Return to Zion traces how a scattered and stateless people reconstituted themselves in their traditional homeland, only to face threats by those who, during the many years of the dispersion, had come to regard the land as their home. This is a story of the “ingathering of the exiles” from Europe to an outpost on the fringes of the Ottoman Empire, of courage and perseverance, and of reinvention and tragedy. Eric Gartman focuses on two main themes of modern Israel: reconstitution and survival. Even as new settlers built their state they faced constant challenges from hostile neighbors and divided support from foreign governments, as well as being attacked by larger armies no fewer than three times during the first twenty-five years of Israel’s history. Focusing on a land torn by turmoil, Return to Zion is the story of Israel—the fight for independence through the Israeli Independence War in 1948, the Six-Day War of 1967, and the near-collapse of the Israeli Army during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Gartman examines the roles of the leading figures of modern Israel—Theodor Herzl, Chaim Weizmann, David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir, Moshe Dayan, Yitzchak Rabin, and Ariel Sharon—alongside popular perceptions of events as they unfolded in the post–World War II decades. He presents declassified CIA, White House, and U.S. State Department documents that detail America’s involvement in the 1967 and 1973 wars, as well as proof that the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty was a case of mistaken identity. Return to Zion pulls together the myriad threads of this history from inside and out to create a seamless look into modern Israel’s truest self.

Return to Zion

Time is running out for Khalil el Said, as his cancer treatments have become less and less effective. And so it is that his old friends Art West (and his new wife, Marissa) and Grace Levine plan something very special for Khalil, while there is still time-- the opening of an el Said wing of the Israeli Museum of Antiquities, which includes many of the items he bequeathed to the museum over many years. All of this might be quite enough, but as the Wests and others arrive in Jerusalem, a huge explosion blows the top off of the Dome of the Rock. How did it happen? Will there be war? And who is this person hiding in the shadows who seems to be the spitting image of the well-known dead villain el Tigre? Along the way new archaeological discoveries come to light, and Yelena, the adopted daughter of Grace and Manny, must decide if her future lies in Israel or not. The old friends discover they are at a crossroads in all their lives--- which avenues will they take as the future beckons?

The Return to Zion