'Memory is not only a filter; it has also a regrettable way of reflecting the needs of the present''. In this comparative political treatise, Zeev Sternhell seeks to challenge longstanding myths surrounding the founding of modern Israel. His stance on this demythologizing work is partially connected to the post-Zionist intellectual movement, which challenges the prevailing truisms of Zionist historiography, trying at the same time to put them in a historical context and explain them. As an advocate of this new approach, the writer moves away from the conceptual and widely accepted "myths" that view Zionism as a socialist-democratic movement of national liberation.

Turkey’s friendly relations with Hamas and Hezbollah constitute an indisputable reality in the Middle East the last six years. The AKP government has brought Turkey closer to the two radical Islamist organisations, to the detriment of the country’s long existing relations with Israel and the West, and despite the harsh internal reactions by the Kemalist establishment. Dynamics have started to change in the region. It remains to be seen what these changes will bring about for all Middle Eastern countries.

"There are neither eternal allies nor eternal enemies. Only interests are eternal..." Lord Palmerston The dictum of Lord Palmerston, as expressed in the House of Commons in 1848, includes the rapprochement between Israel and Greece in the recent past. Because in international relations interests are what matters and every"player"in the international arena has a duty to pursue them.

Both pro-Iranian and anti-Iranian camps have been taken in by the drama surrounding Iranian President Ahmedinejad’s visit to Lebanon. The idea of Ahmedinejad, who is considered to be Hizbullah’s chaperone, overlooking the northern border of Israel – the closest he has ever been to a country he does not recognize and utterly despises - is as ever in Lebanon one person’s nightmare and another one’s paradise. However, instead of indulging ourselves in images of glory and warfare scenarios, exploring the interests of the various ‘talented divas’, who have been keeping Lebanese politics busy for years and are equipped with a long-time performance experience – seems to be more reasonable. In other words, this visit is far too complex to be analyzed in a one-sided manner.

 Idith Zertal, a leading member of the new generation of revisionist historians in Israel, presents through her analysis the way in which Israel's collective memory of death and trauma was created and re-produced, and how it has been processed, coded and put in use in Israel's public space, particularly during the half century which has lapsed since the destruction of the European Jewry. This book offers a new perspective on Israel, its history and the construction of national identity.

Authors: Evangelos Diamantopoulos, Costas Faropoulos, Maria Kourpa, Iris Pappa, Charitini Petrodaskalaki, Aliki Sofianou