At the end of October 1956 Israel invaded the Gaza Strip and the Sinai. This operation, which became known as the Sinai Campaign, served as the pretext for the British and French operation to regain control of the Suez Canal, nationalised by Egypt's President Nasser.

This volume, Volume 12 in the "Documents on the Foreign Policy of Israel" series, is a continuation of Volume 11 and starts where that volume left off, with the preparations for Israel's operation against Egypt after the signature of the Sèvres Agreement with Britain and France on 24 October 1956. It differs from previous volumes in the series in that it focuses on two central subjects, a description of the political and diplomatic struggle waged by Israel during and after the war and of its political and military results. It tells the story of the political stage of the campaign – Israel's confrontation with the Great Powers and the United Nations and the efforts of its government and diplomats to resist their pressure for withdrawal. In the end, in March 1957 Israel was forced to evacuate Gaza and the Sinai, but a U.N. force replaced its troops and it obtained important guarantees for freedom of navigation for Israeli shipping in the Straits of Tiran – guarantees which helped to preserve the peace between Israel and its neighbours until 1967.

The book includes 588 documents in Hebrew and English, most of them previously unpublished, covering the period from the outbreak of war until 31 March 1957. A small amount of documents relating to other subjects, such as Israel's relations with Latin America, Eastern Europe and other European states, have also been included.

Editor: Nana Sagi
Jerusalem, Israel State Archives, 2009
Two volumes, the main volume in Hebrew 851 + 99 pages; English companion volume 615 + CXXIV pages, hard cover.

Each volume contains an introduction, list of documents, indexes, map and illustrations.

Price: NIS 180. Discounts for students, civil servants, pensioners and libraries.