Deutsch-israelische Beziehungen. Zur Genese bilateraler Verträge 1949-1996 (review)

Book Reviews 123 years of 1967 to 1987 is unrivaled. His utilization of hitherto unknown Israeli sources sheds new light on this topic. Had he utilized Arabic sources as well, his study would have been even more valuable. Perhaps this explains the author's consistent portrayal ofthe Jordanian monarch as the sole decision-maker in matters of security and foreign policy. One should recognize, however, that although Jordan is a tightly controlled autocracy, the monarch does come under other influences and internal pressures. The author does not explore pressures by the old Jordanian establishment, the role of the Crown Prince, and even the views of some Palestinian-Jordanian loyalists. This said, it is difficult to detract from the essential value of this study. In addition, Lukacs manages to maintain a scrupulously objective approach to a topic that is a minefield of nationalist and ideological representations. This work should establish him as one ofthe most reasoned scholarly authorities on the many-sided aspects ofthe ArabIsraeli conflict. Ghada Talhami Lake Forest College Deutsch-israelische Beziehungen. Zur Genese bilateraler Vertrlige 1949-1996, by Markus A. Weingardt. Konstanzer Schriften zur Schoah und Judaica, edited by Erhard Roy Wiehn. Konstanz: Hartung-Gorre Verlag, 1997. 195 pp. DM 48. Israel's 50th anniversary has stimulated a wide swath ofanalyses concerning the state's internal dynamics and external profile. Yet Israel's relationship with Germany, which fundamentally has influenced the shape of its economy and the range of its foreign policy options, barely features in this golden anniversary stock-taking. Markus Weingardt's monograph provides, then, a welcome reminder of the centrality over the course ofIsrael's five decades ofthe relationship with Germany in all fields ofpolicyreparations , defense, diplomacy, trade, development assistance-and all domains of societal interaction-youth exchange, science and technology, culture. Markus Weingardt offers a novel approach by viewing the relationship through the lens ofbilateral agreements and treaties at the governmental level. He presents formal relations in four time periods, each encompassed by book-ends of significant change: 1949-1953; 1953-1965; 1965-1977; 1977-1990. Analytically, Weingardt focuses on the context, significance, form, and outcome of negotiations. Substantively, he highlights the 1952 Luxembourg Agreement; the 1960 Adenauer-Ben Gurion Waldorf Astoria meeting; the 1965 conclusion of diplomatic relations; Israel's preferential agreements with the European Community in the 1970s; and German-Israeli agreements in science, in specialized economic fields, and in culture during the 1980s. The governmental relations approach incorporates well the diversity, richness, and singular 124 SHOFAR Summer 1999 Vol. 17, No.4 nature of the German-Israeli "special relationship," but the work nonetheless suffers from two deficiencies relating to its analytical framework and its substantive content. Choosing the state-to-state level of analysis has significant consequences recognized, yet not explored, by Markus Weingardt, who refers to the reality that "the character ofGerman-Israeli relations ... often found expression 'between the lines,' set aside from the formal and official [ties]" (p. 6). The analysis would have been emiched by a more deliberate and comprehensive linkage between the formal aspects and the hidden, secret, or untrumpeted policy dimensions of the German-Israeli relationship, which many analysts deem the actual hallmark of this unusual partnership. Buried in a similar way in Weingardt's analysis are the overall patterns of this important dyad. Only at the end of the monograph does he consider the persistent factors that have accounted for the creation and maintenance of German-Israeli ties: Germany's National Socialist past; the Arab-Israeli conflict; the international environment ; and the influence ofpersonality and personal ties. He omits "national interest" as a category, which is unfortunate given the central role ofpragmatism for both Germany and Israel since the inception of their relationship, and addresses only cursorily the factors he has identified. Incorporating a systematic examination of determinants into the analysis of the formal treaties and agreements would have permitted firmer conclusions about similarities and differences over time, and, moreover, assessment as to the hierarchy of causal factors. Although the title of the monograph embraces the most recent period (until 1996), the content in fact extends only through 1991, followed by a brief allusion to the relationship after German unification. As a result, key post...