In this volume the author seeks to fully reconstruct the process by which theKennedy administration decided to sell to Israel Hawk surfacetoair missiles.He argu... » 

In this volume the author seeks to fully reconstruct the process by which theKennedy administration decided to sell to Israel Hawk surfacetoair missiles.He argues that such domestic considerations as the approaching congressionalelections and such political calculations as the administrations desire topromote a Palestinian settlement were all part of a highly complex decisionalsetting which affected the thinking and behaviour of members of Washingtonshigh policy elite on the very eve of the Hawk decision albeit not to the samedegree. Ultimately a winning coalition was formed between the Middle Easternexperts of the National Security Council and the presidents liaison to theJewish community Myer Feldman. President Kennedys decision to join thiscoalition and to approve the sale without any prior Israeli concessions to thePalestinians determined the outcome of this process. This sealed the fate ofthe Department of States efforts to prevent the sale or later to make itdependent upon an Israeli commitment to soften its traditional Palestinianposture.This book identifies the individuals and groups involved in each phase of thedecisionmaking process of the sale of Hawk missiles examines their relativepower and capacity to mobilize support for their respective positions andassesses the immediate and middlerange consequences of the sale both in thecontext of AmericanIsraeli relations and Washingtons relations with the ArabMiddle East. «