[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-38262-en":3,"doc-seo-38262-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":91},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},38262,7971461741311,"Ophelia","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/74000253aff267980c6?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1779345379180704826",8,"Research & Report","The Iron Wall Revisited Avi Shlaim 2012","The Iron Wall Revisited by Avi Shlaim applies Ze’ev Jabotinsky’s 1923 “iron wall” theory to explain Israel’s Arab policies after 1967. The analysis contrasts a first stage—building an “iron wall” of unassailable military strength—with a largely neglected second stage involving serious negotiations after military dominance compelled abandonment of hopes for prevailing. By reviewing Israeli governments since 1967, the text argues that recent policy has increasingly returned to the iron wall through violence and unilateralism.","The Iron Wall Revisited Author(s): Avi Shlaim  \nSource: Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 41, No. 2 (Winter 2012), pp. 80-98  \nPublished by: University of California Press on behalf of the Institute for Palestine Studies  \nStable URL: [http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/jps.2012.xli.2.80](http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/jps.2012.xli.2.80)  \n[Accessed: 23-02-2016 02:19 UTC](Accessed: 23-02-2016 02:19 UTC)  \nYour use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at [http://www.jstor.org/page/](http://www.jstor.org/page/)[ ](http://www.jstor.org/page/)[info/about/policies/terms.jsp](info/about/policies/terms.jsp)  \nJSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [support@jstor.org](support@jstor.org).  \nInstitute for Palestine Studies and University of California Press are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of Palestine Studies.  \n[http://www.jstor.org](http://www.jstor.org)  \nThis content downloaded from [147.226.7.162](147.226.7.162) on Tue, 23 Feb 2016 02:19:54 UTC  \nAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions  \nThe Iron Wall  \nAvi ShlAim  \nrevIsITed  \nMore than a decade after the publication of his acclaimed The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World, Avi Shlaim returns to Ze’ev Jabotinsky’s theory as a framework for understanding Israel’s Arab policies, this time focusing on the post-1967 period. The author revisits the theory’s formulation by the leader of Revisionist Zionism in 1923 and its near total convergence with the (unacknowledged) strategy followed by Labor Zionism. Examining each Israeli government since 1967, he shows that all zealously followed stage one of Jabotinsky’s strategy (constructing an “iron wall” of unassailable military strength) but that the lesser known stage two (serious negotiations with the Palestinians after being compelled by stage one to abandon all hope of prevailing over Zionism) has been completely ignored except by Yitzhak Rabin. Indeed, the recent periods have witnessed a full-blown return to the iron wall at its starkest, with increasing resort to violence and unilateralism.  \nZioniSm wAS one of the most successful national liberation movements of the twentieth century. It set out to build an independent Jewish state in Palestine and this goal was achieved with the establishment of Israel in 1948. Arab resistance was the most serious obstacle that the Zionist movement encountered on the road to statehood. Consequently, from an early stage, Zionist leaders became preoccupied with what they euphemistically referred to as “the Arab question.” Conventional accounts tend to portray the Zionist movement and its principal political progeny, Israel, as the innocent victims of Arab aggression.1 These accounts overlook the fact that violence was implicit in Zionism from the beginning, that the Arab-Israeli conflict was an inescapable consequence of the Zionist program. Zionism sought to create a Jewish state in a land that was already inhabited by another people. Labor Zionists denied that this entailed theresort to force, while right-wing Zionists admitted it. That was the main difference between them.2  \nConventional interpretations also emphasize the reactive nature of Israel’s behavior in the conflict with the Arabs. One example is Yehoshafat  \navI shlaIm is a professor of International Relations at St. Antony’s College, Oxford, and the author of a number of books, including Collusion across the Jordan: King Abdullah, the Zionist Movement and the Partition of Palestine. He would like to thank Linda Butler, Gwyn Daniel, Roger Louis, and Gabriel Piterberg for their valuable comments on an earlier draft of this article.  \nJournal of Pales","cbCaihMakELMwwJe","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaihMakELMwwJe","pdf",356260,3,1,20,"English","en",105,"# Framing the Iron Wall Theory\n## Stages of Jabotinsky’s Strategy\n# Zionism, Violence, and the “Arab Question”\n# Interpreting Israeli Policy: Reactive vs Strategic\n# Israel’s Military Strategy since the 1920s","[{\"question\":\"What is the core framework used to understand Israel’s Arab policies after 1967?\",\"answer\":\"The framework is Ze’ev Jabotinsky’s iron wall theory from 1923, used as a lens for Israel’s policy approach in the post-1967 period.\"},{\"question\":\"What are the two stages of the iron wall strategy discussed in the article?\",\"answer\":\"Stage one centers on constructing an “iron wall” of unassailable military strength; stage two involves serious negotiations with Palestinians after military strength forces abandonment of hopes of prevailing over Zionism.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the article characterize the evolution of Israeli policy in recent periods?\",\"answer\":\"Recent periods are described as a renewed return to the iron wall in its starkest form, marked by increasing resort to violence and unilateralism.\"}]",1783059068,50,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":86,"head_meta":88,"extra_data":90,"updated_unix":28},"the-iron-wall-revisited-avi-shlaim-2012","",{"@graph":36,"@context":85},[37,53,68],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,48,50],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":47},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",{"item":51,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":52},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-iron-wall-revisited-avi-shlaim-2012/38262/",4,{"url":51,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":62,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":63,"interactionStatistic":64},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":41,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-09","2026-07-03",true,{"@type":65,"interactionType":66,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":67},"ViewAction",{"@type":69,"mainEntity":70},"FAQPage",[71,77,81],{"name":72,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":74},"What is the core framework used to understand Israel’s Arab policies after 1967?","Question",{"text":75,"@type":76},"The framework is Ze’ev Jabotinsky’s iron wall theory from 1923, used as a lens for Israel’s policy approach in the post-1967 period.","Answer",{"name":78,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":79},"What are the two stages of the iron wall strategy discussed in the article?",{"text":80,"@type":76},"Stage one centers on constructing an “iron wall” of unassailable military strength; stage two involves serious negotiations with Palestinians after military strength forces abandonment of hopes of prevailing over Zionism.",{"name":82,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":83},"How does the article characterize the evolution of Israeli policy in recent periods?",{"text":84,"@type":76},"Recent periods are described as a renewed return to the iron wall in its starkest form, marked by increasing resort to violence and unilateralism.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":51,"og:type":87,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":58,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":89,"canonical":51},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":25},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":92},[93,97,101,105,110,114,119,122,126,129,133],{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":94,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":96},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":47,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":112,"show_sort_weight":29,"slug":113},6,"Technology","technology",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":120,"slug":121},30,"research-report",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":22,"slug":125},9,"Religion & Spirituality","religion-spirituality",{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":127,"show_sort_weight":22,"slug":128},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":130,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":131,"show_sort_weight":130,"slug":132},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":134,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":135,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":136},19,"General","general"]