An Israeli diplomat traces his country's path from moral paragon to brutal oppressor. Former Israel ambassador guides the reader on an odyssey through 300 years of Jewish history up to the intifada of today's occupied West Bank. He shows how the fundamentalist Right is trying to transform Israel - in fact, recreating the medieval Jewish ghetto. It offers a series of policy alternatives enabling Israel to recognize its secular responsibilities as a nation while leaving its people free to pursue their own religious destinies.