The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967-1977 by Gershom Gorenberg

Cast of Characters
    Israeli Politicians and Officials (Party Affiliation in Parentheses)
    Y EHIEL A DMONI , number-two official in the Jewish Agency’s Settlement Department
    Y IGAL A LLON , former general, labor minister, education minister, foreign minister (Ahdut Ha’avodah)
    M ENACHEM B EGIN , leader of the political right, prime minister 1977–1983 (Herut/Gahal/Likud)
    M OSHE D AYAN , former general, defense minister (Rafi)
    S IMCHA D INITZ , ambassador to the United States (Mapai)
    A BBA E BAN , foreign minister (Mapai)
    L EVI E SHKOL , prime minister 1963–1969 (Mapai)
    Y ISRAEL G ALILI , minister without portfolio, in charge of settlements (Ahdut Ha’avodah)
    S HLOMO G OREN , chief rabbi of the Israel Defense Forces, chief rabbi of Israel
    H AIM G VATI , agriculture minister (Mapai)
    Z EVULUN H AMMER , leader of the Young Guard (National Religious Party)
    G OLDA M EIR , Labor Party secretary-general, prime minister 1969–1974 (Mapai)
    T HEODOR M ERON , legal counsel to the Foreign Ministry
    M OSHE N ETZER , Defense Ministry official, head of Nahal under Dayan, adviser on settlement under Peres (Rafi)
    S HIMON P ERES , Dayan loyalist, Knesset member, defense minister (Rafi)
    Y AAKOV P ERRY , Shin Bet agent in Nablus
    Y ITZHAK R ABIN , army chief of staff, ambassador to the United States, prime minister 1974–1977 (Labor)
    P INHAS S APIR , finance minister (Mapai)
    M EIR S HAMIR , head of the Galilee office of the Jewish Agency’s Settlement Department
    H AIM M OSHE S HAPIRA , interior minister (National Religious Party)
    Y AAKOV S HIMSHON S HAPIRA , justice minister (Mapai)
    Z ORACH W ARHAFTIG , religious affairs minister (National Religious Party)
    R A’ANAN W EITZ , head of the Jewish Agency’s Settlement Department (Mapai)
     
    Note: The Labor Party was formed in 1968 as a union of the Mapai, Rafi, and Ahdut Ha’avodah parties. It contested the elections of 1969, 1974, and 1977 in the Alignment with the left-wing Mapam Party.
    The United Kibbutz Movement and the Merom Golan Settlement
    C ARMEL B AR , army veteran, settler
    R AFAEL B EN -Y EHUDAH , organizer
    Y EHUDAH H AREL , organizer, settler
    K OBI R ABINOVICH , army tank veteran, settler
    E YTAN S AT , organizer
    Y ITZHAK T ABENKIN , socialist theoretician and ideological leader of the movement
    The Religious Settler Movement
    Y OEL B IN -N UN , student at Merkaz Harav, Gush Emunim ideologue
    Y EHUDAH E TZION , student at Har Etzion yeshivah, founder of Ofrah settlement
    M ENACHEM F ELIX , settler in Hebron and Kiryat Arba, organizer of Sebastia settlement bids
    B ENNY K ATZOVER , settler at Hebron and Kiryat Arba, organizer of Sebastia settlement bids
    T ZVI Y EHUDAH K OOK , rabbi, spiritual leader and head of the Merkaz Harav yeshivah
    M OSHE L EVINGER , rabbi, founder of the Hebron settlement and Kiryat Arba, a leader of Gush Emunim
    M OSHE M OSKOVIC , activist in reestablishment of Etzion Bloc settlements
    H ANAN P ORAT , student at Merkaz Harav, settler at Kfar Etzion, a leader of Gush Emunim
    E LIEZER W ALDMAN , rabbi, settler in Hebron and Kiryat Arba, Gush Emunim activist
    Israel Defense Forces
    D AVID E LAZAR , head of Northern Command in 1967, chief of staff in Yom Kippur War
    S HLOMO G AZIT , Dayan’s coordinator of Israeli government activities in the occupied territories
    M ORDECHAI G UR , head of paratroopers in 1967, chief of staff following Yom Kippur War
    M ORDECHAI H OD , commander of Israel Air Force in 1967
    U ZI N ARKISS , head of Central Command in 1967
    A RIEL S HARON , head of Southern Command, later a Knesset member and adviser to Prime Minister Rabin
    Israeli Writers
    N ATHAN A LTERMAN , poet, founder of the Movement for the Whole Land of Israel
    H AIM G OURI , poet and journalist, veteran of the Palmah pre-state militia
    Y ISRAEL H AREL , Orthodox journalist, activist in the Movement for the Whole Land of Israel
    C HAIM S ABBATO , memoirist of the Yom Kippur War
    M OSHE S HAMIR , novelist, former leftist turned supporter of