Harkabi was a political analysist and insider. His advise to Israel at the time that this book was written did finally come to fruition. (His advise at the time: negotiate with the PLO) The remaining value in his book lies in his reasoning for the negotiations, which can be taken as Israel's interests in the negotiations.

The book is highly critical of the Israeli right, which refuses to, in his words, separate the 'grand design' of Palestinian ideology from thei practical needs. Indeed, traditional Jewish ideology is threating to neighboring nations as well ... both Israel and her negotiators must speak on terms that recognize present desires, not 'grand design,' Harkabi argues (and I agree).

General Harkabi, once head of Israeli Military Intelligence under Menachem Begin, was one of the world's foremost authorities on the Middle East. As head of Middle East Studies at Jerusalem University as well as a visiting scholar at the Brookings Institution and Princeton University, he remains one of the great "Doves" in Israeli political and intellectual history whose patriotism and support of Zionism was irreproachable. In this book, he carefully analizes virtually every relevant contemporary angle of the conflict, including how Israel should understand and deal with terrorism, thereby making the book still highly relevant some 14 years after its first publication. Such exaustive, yet so clearly approached interpretations are rare indeed. It is an absolute neccessity to anyone wishing to understand why Israel finds itself in its currently very dangerous predicament as well as to anyone interested in arming themselves with arguments and interpretations which reach levels where very few other people ever have done on the subject.

Although the content of the Palestine-Israel nexus has changed drastically since Harkabi's publication of "Arab Strategies and Israel's Response", his analysis of the principal schools of thought motivating both sides is still right on target. Although there has been major movement in who belongs to these schools, the schools themselves still explain the strategies, tactics and objectives that inform the declarations of the players in the Palestine/Israel conflict. Professor Harkabi writes his realistic appraisal with an objectivity and rationality that make his book a "must read" for anyone interested in understanding the positions on all sides of this conflict.