Yitzhak Rabin: A Political Biography, by Leslie Derfler

Abstract

Yitzhak Rabin: A Political Biography, by Leslie Derfler. New York, Palgrave MacMillan, 2014. 240 pp. $105.00 US (cloth). Resurrection is principal theme of this biography; Yitzhak Rabin's return in 1992 as prime minister of Israel twenty-five years after a three-year period (1974-77) that he himself considered a failure. Nine of eleven chapters review roles that Rabin filled during fifty years that preceded his reascent in 1992, when he led Labor Party to victory at polls. The first three chapters are Soldier, Hero (of 1967 Six Day War), and Ambassador (to United States). The next three deal with his first round as prime minister, political and personal issues leading to an early end to that term in office, and seven-year Interment of 1977 to 1984 (the title of chapter six), during much of which the nine o'clock news served as Rabin's chief source of daily information (p. 83). In 1984 Rabin became minister of defense, serving until 1990 demise of coalition in which Labor Party shared power with right-wing Likud. Chapters seven and eight examine Rabin's policies during those six years, including his tough approach to Intifada (Palestinian uprising) that erupted at end of 1987. The last three chapters cover Rabin's resurrection in 1992, 1993 Oslo Agreement over which he presided with long-time rival Shimon Peres, and his assassination in November 1995. Derfler writes that his biography shows admiration of Rabin but also tarnishes his image (p. viii). This sounds odd, for a researcher should not hesitate to criticize, and his study of Rabin is fair and balanced. Thus, Derfler points to Rabin's part in escalation that led to 1967 war and share in responsibility for disparagement of Arabs that contributed to Yom Kippur War of 1973. At same time, he acknowledges Rabin's capacity for both diplomatic flexibility and strategic adaptation. Rabin as second-time prime minister dealt with both Washington as ally and Palestinians as adversary in ways in which Likud's Yitzhak Shamir, his immediate predecessor, was simply incapable. Derfler emphasizes his inclusion of material from articles translated from Hebrew that were not available to earlier biographers. Evidence of a synthesis based on these sources appears in his treatment of facets of Rabin's policies and political relationships to which others have accorded less attention. Peres, minister of defense from 1974 to 1977, presented himself as principal realist in first Rabin government. The author notes that Rabin was therefore flabbergasted that Peres in mid-1975 proposed a withdrawal from strategic passes in Sinai peninsula that would leave neither Egypt nor Israel in control but place there a joint US-Soviet garrison (p. 56). Derfler describes Rabin's seven years (1977-1984) as a backbencher in Knesset (Israel's parliament), when his involvement in security matters was limited to a place on legislature's foreign affairs and defense committee. …