In March of 1948, the United States had withdrawn its support from the Jewish side of the Palestinian conflict, and the UN Security Council had decided to postpone the establishment of the state of Israel. The raging battle over the control of roads was ongoing, and Jewish convoys had been battered in Gush-Etzion, Western Galilee, and the road to Jerusalem. It was at this decisive point that the leader of the would-be state of Israel, David Ben Gurion, turned the Jewish strategy around. Abandoning the previous defensive strategy, Ben Gurion gave orders that began the battle of Dier Yasin, destroying Arab villages on the road to Jerusalem. Milstein's account gives new insight into this conflict, and reinvestigates the entire War of Independence. This book will be useful to historians, scholars of Middle Eastern policy and military strategy, in addition to students of international studies.