Soviet Policy Toward Israel Under Gorbachev

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Description

Mikhail Gorbachev's rise to power in 1985 signalled the beginning of significant improvements in Soviet-Israeli relations. Based on analysis of Soviet behaviour and interviews with Israeli and Soviet Foreign Ministry officials and PLO leaders, this study describes how eased tensions between the Soviet Union and Israel have been achieved, and analyzes the Soviet Union's reasons for advancing diplomatic relations with Israel. Robert Owen Freedman follows the progress of Soviet policy from the 1987 arrival of the Soviet consular delegation in Israel, which heralded rapid improvement on the diplomatic front, through 1989 trade agreements, cultural, academic, and athletic exchanges, and 1990 political meetings between high ranking officials. Freedman's identification of the four primary goals which positively directed these Soviet initiatives towards Israel is central to the study as it recognizes the Soviet desire to become active in the Middle East peace process and to favourably influence domestic and worldwide opinion. Both meticulously documented and forward-looking, the conclusions reached can stimulate discussion and provide a basis for further study for members of the academic, political, and diplomatic communities.

Author Bio

ROBERT OWEN FREEDMAN is Peggy Meyerhoff Pearlstone Professor of Political Science and Dean of the School of Graduate Studies at the Baltimore Hebrew University. He is the author of Economic Warfare in the Communist Bloc: A Study of Soviet Economic Pressure against Yugoslavia, Albania, and Communist China (Praeger, 1970) and Soviet Policy toward the Middle East Since 1970 (Praeger, 1975). He has contributed to a number of edited books on the subject of Soviet foreign policy and Middle East politics, and has served on a number of U.S. delegations to the Soviet Union for discussions of Middle East issues.