Since the establishment of the state, Israel has known leaders from the left, whose passionate peace explorations were met with terror and bloodshed, and leaders from the right, whose bellicose declarations conveyed weakness to the other side. These and these also achieved the opposite results from those they had hoped for. Why, actually? What is so dangerously disrupting our dialogue with the Arab world? Is there really no partner, or have we not learned his language? Eli Avidar's book, "The Abyss", tries to honestly and courageously answer these basic questions. During his long service, both in the security system and in the foreign service, and as a member of the Knesset and minister on behalf of "Israel Beitno", the author was frustrated by many of the errors that characterize Israel's conduct in the Middle East, and looked for other, more creative and smarter ways of acting. In his book, he examines, among other things: Why did Arafat blow up the negotiations with Barak at Camp David? Why do secret summaries bind the Arab side less than announcements in the media? Why did Shimon Peres become the terror of the Arab world? How does the Arab world interpret unilateral measures such as the withdrawal from Lebanon and the "disengagement"? Is Islam Israel's problem, or perhaps part of the solution? Will the hasty peace agreements signed with the Gulf countries at the end of 2020 last? "The Abyss" is a must read for every Israeli who wants to understand what his statesmen have not yet understood when they came to create a "new Middle East" here.
