Introduction

Abstract

Shortly after the coup d’état of May 1960 in Turkey an Israeli diplomat approached General Cemal Gürsel, the head of the new government in Ankara, to inquire about the prospect of upgrading relations with Israel. The General answered frankly: “We want you to know that we wish to befriend the Arabs,” adding that: “our situation resembles that of a man in love with a woman who is surrounded [being courted] by many men. If I declare that I am in love with the woman, I will only annoy the other men with no benefit [to her].”¹ The analogy is, of course, false, since Israel was patently not being courted by the surrounding Arab countries, and was indeed a complete outcast. Nevertheless, it is helpful in illustrating the triangle of relations that shaped and reshaped itself over some four decades, from the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 up to the early 1990s, when they were fundamentally transformed.