In the sixty-plus years of the Jewish state's existence, Israeli governments have exhausted almost every option in defending their country against terror attacks. Israel has survived and even thrived--but both its citizens and its Arab neighbors have paid dearly. In A High Price, Daniel Byman breaks down the dual myths of Israeli omnipotence and--conversely--ineptitude in fighting terror, offering instead a nuanced, definitive historical account of the state's bold but often failed efforts to fight terrorist groups. The product of painstaking research and countless interviews, the book chronicles different periods of Israeli counterterrorism. In surveying Israel's response to terror, the author points to the coups of shadowy Israeli intelligence services, the much-emulated use of defensive measures such as sky marshals on airplanes, and the role of controversial techniques such as targeted killings and the security barrier that separates Israel from Palestinian areas. Equa

• Section and Chapter Outline


• I. Beginnings (1940-1967)


• Chapter One: The Glass House (Jewish resistance to British rule)


• Chapter Two: Crossborder Wars (Fighting Fedayeen attacks from Jordan and Egypt)


• II. The Birth of International Terrorism (1967-1993)


• Chapter Three: The Rise of the PLO


• Chapter Four: The PFLP and the Birth of International Terrorism


• (Munich, Dawson's Field)


• Chapter Five: Israel Strikes Back


• (Operations Spring of Youth, Wrath of God, Thunderbolt, the Tunis raid, etc.)


• III. Counterterrorism and the Palestinian Authority (1993-2000)


• Chapter Six: The Dreams of Oslo


• Chapter Seven: The Rise of Hamas


• Chapter Eight: Partners? (1996 Cooperation, the Tunnel Clash, Arafat's Policies)


• Chapter Nine: Israel Organizes for Counterterrorism (Military and Intelligence Changes)


• Chapter Ten: Clouds on the Horizon (the Road to the Second Intifada)


• IV. The Dark Days of the Second Intifada (2000-2002)


• Chapter Eleven: One Million Bullets (Israel's Response to the Second Intifada)


• Chapter Twelve: Killing Raed Karmi


• (Discussion of Israel's conflicting strategies and targeted killings)


• V. "Victory " and Its Limits (2002-present)


• Chapter Thirteen: Entering the Hornet's Nest: The Battle of Jenin


• (Discussion of Operation Defensive Shield)


• Chapter Fourteen: Back to the Wall (Building the Security Barrier)


• Chapter Fifteen: Declaring Victory and Going Home (Unilateral Withdrawal from Gaza)


• Chapter Sixteen: Stuck in the West Bank?


• VI. Fighting Hezbollah (1982-2007)


• Chapter Seventeen: Birth of a Monster (Israel's Invasion of Lebanon


• and the Creation of Hezbollah)


• Chapter Eighteen: The Rules of the Game (Limited War with Hezbollah in the 1990s)


• Chapter Nineteen: The Promise of Normalcy in Lebanon (Withdrawal in 2000 and its


• Unfulfilled Hopes)


• Chapter Twenty: Hezbollah Returns (the 2006 War)


• VII. Jewish Terrorism


• Chapter Twenty One: Destroying the Abomination


• (Attacks on Mayors and the Plot to Blow up the Dome of the Rock)


• Chapter Twenty Two: To Kill a Prime Minister


• VIII. A Report Card


• Chapter Twenty Three: Evaluating Israeli Strategies


• Chapter Twenty Four: Public Resilience


• Chapter Twenty Five: Winning the Battles, Losing the War (Inevitable Tradeoffs and


• the Long-Term Consequences of Counterterrorism)


• IX. Lessons for America (and Europe)


• Chapter Twenty Six: Learning from Israel

Daniel Byman is Professor in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and Senior Fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. He has served on the 9/11 Commission staff and as an analyst with the U.S. government.