1973: The Road to War generated considerable media attention in Israel—and more than a little shock—when it was published in Hebrew in 2012. Yigal Kipnis delved deep into the Israeli and American archives and discovered the degree to which the 1973 war (which came as a terrible surprise to nearly all Israelis) could have been avoided…That is, it could have been avoided if in the months preceding October 1973, then-Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, who was facing elections, had not been adamantly opposed to allowing the peace negotiations with Egypt to proceed and if U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, despite some misgivings, had not backed her up in that refusal.

Yigal Kipnis is an Israeli historian who has been a farmer and resident of the Golan Heights since 1978. He teaches at the University of Haifa and researches the settlement geography and political history of Israel. His first book, The Mountain that Was as a Monster: The Golan Between Syria and Israel, was published in Hebrew by Magnes Press – The Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2009. An updated version of that book was published in London with the title The Golan Heights: Political History, Settlement and Geography since 1949 (Routledge 2013). Kipnis served as a pilot in the Israel Air Force for 31 years, 26 of those in the IAF reserves. He completed his service in 1999 with the rank of lieutenant colonel. In 1992-2000, at the height of the political process which was taking place between Israel and Syria, Kipnis, as a resident of the Golan Heights, led a movement of many settlers of the area who supported the goal of reaching a peace agreement between Israel and Syria.

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