Divided into two clear parts, the first part of this book examines political and economic factors in the global strategic environment including, the approach of US and EU foreign policies towards Israel, global trends in the field of defence industries and the energy sector and their implications for the Middle East and Israel.

The second part focuses on Israel's strategic agenda as reflected in its military force design and doctrine, the dilemmas the country has faced in the course of fighting its wars of attrition, the relations between military and civil sectors in Israel, the struggle against Israel on the part of non-governmental organizations, Israel's main security challenges and national grand strategy.

This book was previously published as a special issue of Israel Affairs.

Introduction Efraim Inbar The Strategic Environment 1 American Foreign Policy towards the Middle East: A Necessary Change? Steven R. David 2 Troubled Neighbours: The EU and Israel Rory Miller 3 China's Upsurge: Implications for the Middle East Yitzhak Schichor 4 Trends in Middle East Politics and their Implications for Israel Eyal Zisser 5 Global Oil Trends and their Effect on the Middle East Gil Feiler Israel's Strategic Agenda 6 Public Diplomacy: The Missing Component in Israel's Foreign Policy Eytan Gilboa 7 Soft Powers Play Hardball: NGOs Wage War against Israel Gerald M. Steinberg 8 Changing Civil -Military Relations in Israel: Towards an Over-subordinate IDF? Stuart A. Cohen 9 Flexible Force Structure: A Flexibility Oriented Force Design and Development Process for Israel Meir Finkel 10 Israel's Wars of Attrition: Operational and Moral Dilemmas Avi Kober 11 Israel's Palestinian Challenge Efraim Inbar 12 A Breakout Political-Security Grand-Strategy for Israel Yehezkel Dror