Of all the sovereign states of the postwar period, Israel was the most threatened. Tiny and awkwardly shaped, only nine miles wide at its narrowest point and with long, vulnerable borders, it was surrounded by larger and far more populous countries that objected not to Israel's size, its political system, or its policies, but to its existence.

Although beleaguered and vulnerable, Israel was not a weak state in the sense that the People's Republic of China was weak after 1949. It did not face certain defeat in a war with its adversaries, as China did in a war with the United States or the Soviet Union. Indeed, Israel fought four wars with its Arab adversaries in twentyfive years and won them all. These victories did not, however, make Israel a strong state like the United States after 1945. In none of the conflicts was the outcome assured. The Israelis fought by conventional, not guerrilla, methods. They expanded their territorial holdings but could not compel their Arab neighbors to accept their country as a legitimate, permanent part of the Middle East. Despite the victories, the Arab threat persisted. Israel belonged to that large middle category of sovereign states that are roughly comparable in power to their would-be adversaries. Like France after 1918, Israel was neither much stronger nor much weaker than its enemies.

Its position in the international system did not determine Israel's security policies.