Since its establishment the State of Israel has sought alliances with non-Arab and non- Muslim countries and minorities in the Middle East, as well as Arab states geographically distant from the Arab-Israel con ict. The article presents and explains this regional orientation. It examines Israel's strategy of out anking. The “periphery doctrine” was a grand strategy, meant to attain the major political-security goal of countering Arab hostility through relations with alternative regional powers and potential allies. This periphery strategy had been internalized to some extent in Israel’s strategic thinking and it began to reappear after 2010, following a new era of Arab revolution. The rise of political Islam in Egypt, Turkey, Gaza and southern Lebanon coupled with the Islamic regime in Iran, has generated concern in Israel that it is again being surrounded by a ring of hostile states – in this case, Islamists rather than Arab nationalists. The article analyzes Israel’s strategic thinking about the Middle East region. It looks at the importance of the “new periphery strategy” for Israeli e orts to advance the Arab-Israel peace process, and its potential role as the Arab Spring brings about greater Islamization of the Arab Middle East. Israeli strategic planners are talking of "spheres of containment" wherein countries like Cyprus, Greece, Azerbaijan, and Ethiopia constitute a kind of new periphery.
Key words: “periphery doctrine”, “new periphery”, “new periphery strategy”, “spheres of containment”, regional orientation, Israel's strategy of out anking, potential allies of Israel, a ring of hostile states, Israel’s strategic thinking, Islamization of the Arab Middle East.
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רטמ .רוזאב תירב תולעב רחא לארשי לש יאשחה שופיחה .הדדוב הנידמ .רפלא יסוי .9
לירפאב 14 ,גח ףסומ ,תונורחא תועידי ,ענרב םוחנ .10
ילויב 5 ,תבשל ףסומה תונורחא תועידי ,"ריהקמ םערה לוק" ,ענרב םוחנ .11
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הירפירפה" ,5 קרפ ,תונורחא תועידי ,1996 ,2000 תנש ירחאש םלועב לארשי :תוירחאב ,הנס םירפא .14
השדחה 2000 ראורבפ ,23 מ"למ טבמ ,יפוח קחצי םע ןויאיר .15
16 תונורחא תועידי ."לארשי תנידמ ךותב רבכ שעאד" :ןילביר .רנכייא רמתיא .
