Israel's Small War: The Military Response to the Intifada

This article analyzes Israel's military response to the intifada. Beginning with a discussion of the attitude on the part of the main Israeli decision makers toward the use of force in the Arab-Israeli conflict, it goes on to analyze the crystallization of Israeli strategy to deal with the Palestinian uprising. It reviews the main stages in the developing Israeli response. The succeeding section focuses on how the Israeli Defence Forces adapted to waging a small war for which it was unprepared. The slow process is reviewed in terms of manpower policy, intelligence, training, operations, and equipment. The article concludes with a discussion of the question whether victory is possible and at what price.