?The most comprehensive account of Israeli history yet published.? ? The Sunday Telegraph?An epic history . . . a picture of an Israel that persevered and prevailed, that was determined to survive and was unwilling to trust its independence to others but sought peace whenever possible.? ? Foreign AffairsIsrael is a small and relatively young country, but since the day of its creation more than half a century ago, its turbulent history has placed it squarely at the center of the world stage. For two millennia the Jews, dispersed all over the world, prayed for a return to Zion. Until the nineteenth century, that dream seemed a fantasy, but then a secular Zionist movement was born and soon the initial trickle of Jewish immigrants to Palestine turned into a flood as Jews fled persecution in Europe. From these beginnings, preeminent historian Martin Gilbert traces the events and personalities that would lead to the sudden, dramatic declaration of Statehood in May 1948. From that point on, Israel's history has been dominated by conflict: Suez, the Six Day War, the Yom Kippur War, the Lebanon and the Intifada. Using contemporary documents and eyewitness accounts, and drawing on his own intimate knowledge of the country and its people, Martin Gilbert weaves together a riveting, page-turning history of a powerful and proud nation, from the struggles of its pioneers in the nineteenth century up to the present day.