Joseph Heller, associate professor of international relations at the Hebrew University ofJerusalem who has previously written about the transition from the Palestine Mandate to Israel(including a study of the Stern Gang and of Zionist politics in the pre-state period), examines aperiod of great interest to students of contemporary Middle Eastern history and politics, as well asto those who focus on Zionism, Israel, and the Arab–Israeli conflict. He analyzes theinternal decision-making of the Zionist Yishuv (Jewish community in Palestine) leadership inJerusalem from the end of World War II until the armistice agreements at the termination of thefirst Arab–Israeli War (the Israeli War of Independence; al-Nakba for the Arabs)—inother words, the events leading to and immediately following the creation of the State of Israel.