Facing a Cruel Mirror: Israel's Moment of Truth

Bar-Zohar asserts that Israel's downhill slide began under the reign of inflexible if charismatic Golda Meir, who ``furiously denied the existence of a Palestinian people.'' A member of the Knesset, journalist, soldier, Ben-Gurion's biographer and author of spy novels (under the pseudonyms Michael Hastings and Michael Barak), Bar-Zohar offers scathing closeups of well-known figures. Shimon Peres ``surrounds himself only with yes-men.'' Menachem Begin ran ``the most unbalanced, reckless government Israel had ever had.'' A gifted writer, Bar-Zohar presents a remarkably vivid portrayal of Israeli politics and society from the 1967 Six Day War to the Intifada. He opposes a separate Palestinian state but favors the creation of a Jordanian-Palestinian confederation which would include most of the now-occupied territories. In support of this proposal, he notes that most Jordanians today are Palestinian. (June)