Chickpea domestication in the Neolithic Levant through the nutritional perspective

An alternative approach to the process of selection and domestication of grain crops in early history based on nutritional value is proposed. Selection by a long trial and error process among a number of wild large seeded legumes gave rise to a nutritionally superior domesticated chickpea among the selected “founder crops” of the Neolithic Near Eastern agriculture. We found considerably higher free tryptophan levels in cultivated stocks (44 desi and 29 kabuli types from 25 countries; 1.10 mg/g seed dry weight), compared with the wild progenitor Cicer reticulatum (15 accessions; 0.33 mg/g seed dry weight). Dietary tryptophan determines brain serotonin synthesis, which in turn affects certain brain functions and human behaviour. We suggest that these nutritive facts may explain the decision of prehistoric farmers to choose this rare species and struggle to keep such an agronomically complicated crop under domestication.     

Hans Kohn: the idea of secularized nationalism

More than seventy years after its publication, Hans Kohn's 1944 The Idea of Nationalism is still regarded as a ground‐breaking contribution to the study of nationalism. This essay is aimed to highlight a significant theme in this work which has largely gone unnoticed, namely, the pivotal role of religion and secularism in Kohn's account of nationalism, and especially, in his persistent struggle for a ‘perfect’ nationalism. Kohn's conception – and personal experience – of the relationship of nationalism and religion will be examined through several stages of his turbulent life. First, as a young Zionist in Prague, when he parlayed Martin Buber's Zionist creed into an ethnic concept of nationalism. Then, in Kohn's journalistic writing in the 1920s and in his first theoretical works on nationalism in the years 1929–1942. Finally, Kohn's more mature and crystallized account of nationalism in his 1944 book will be revisited from the perspective of the nationalism–religion relationship.     

Reviews of Books

CLARK G. REYNOLDS. Navies in History. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1998. Pp. xi, 267. $24.95 (US), paper. Reviewed by Joseph A. Maiolo

PETER WHITFIELD. New Found Lands: Maps in the History of Exploration. London and New York: Routledge, 1998. Pp. viii, 200. $40.00 (US). Reviewed by Glyndwr William

A. J. COATES. The Ethics of War. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1997; dist. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. Pp. 314. $24.95 (US), paper. Reviewed by Noam J. Zohar

JEREMY BLACK. Why Wars Happen. New York: New York University Press, 1998. Pp. 271. $30.00 (US); JEREMY BLACK. War and the World: Military Power and the Fate of Continents, 1450–2000. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1998. Pp. 334. $35.00 (US). Reviewed by Roger Beaumont

ROBERT E. A. PALMER. Rome and Carthage at Peace. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1997. Pp. 152. DM 68. Reviewed by Hans-Friedrich Mueller

ROGER COLLINS. Charlemagne. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998. Pp. xv, 234. $55.00 (CDN), cloth; $19.95 (CDN), paper. Reviewed by John J. Contreni

JEAN FAVIER. Gold and Spices: The Rise of Commerce in the Middle Ages, trans. Caroline Higgitt. New York and London: Holmes & Meier, 1998. Pp. 390. $39.95 (US). Reviewed by John H. Munro

JOHANNA MARIA VAN WINTER, compiler. Sources Concerning the Hospitallers of St John in the Netherlands, 14th–18th Centuries. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1998. Pp. viii, 821. NLG 450. Reviewed by David F. Allen

DENIS TWITCHETT and FREDERICK W. MOTE, eds. The Cambridge History of China: VIII: The Ming Dynasty, 1368–1644, Part 2. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Pp. xxi, 1203. $130.00 (US). Reviewed by Richard von Glahn

RICHARD W. UNGER. Ships and Shipping in the North Sea and Atlantic, 1400–1800. Aldershot: Variorum, 1997; dist. Brookfield: Ashgate. Pp. xii, 316. $89.95 (US). Reviewed by Timothy J. Runyan

OM PRAKASH. The New Cambridge History of India: II.5: European Commercial Enterprise in Pre-Colonial India. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Pp.xviii,377. $54.95(US). Reviewed by Blair B. Kling

M. W. DALY, ed. The Cambridge History of Egypt: II: Modern Egypt, from 1517 to the End of the Twentieth Century. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Pp. xiv, 463. $100.00 (US). Reviewed by Afaf Lutfi al-Sayyid Marsot

JAROSLAW PELENSKI. The Contest for the Legacy of Kievan Rus'. Boulder: East European Monographs, 1998; dist. New York: Columbia University Press. Pp. xxiii, 325. $48.00 (US). Reviewed by Paul Bushkovitch

NICHOLAS CANNY, ed. The Oxford History of the British Empire: I: The Origins of Empire: British Overseas Enterprise to the Close of the Seventeenth Century. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Pp. xix, 533. $59.50 (CDN). Reviewed by Simon Adams

PHILIP LAWSON. A Taste for Empire and Glory: Studies in British Overseas Expansion, 1660–1800. Aldershot: Variorum, 1997; dist. Brookfield: Ashgate. Pp. xiv, 298. $89.95 (US). Reviewed by Kenneth Morgan

HARRY LIEBERSOHN. Aristocratic Encounters: European Travelers and North American Indians. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Pp. xi, 179. $49.95 (US). Reviewed by Ian K. Steele

SYLVIANE A. DIOUF. Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas. New York: New York University Press, 1998. Pp. ix, 254. $18.50 (US), paper. Reviewed by Paul E. Lovejoy

DESMOND GREGORY. No Ordinary General: Lt General Sir Henry Bunbury (1778–1860): The Best Soldier Historian. Cranbury: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1999. Pp. 144. $32.50 (US). Reviewed by Neville Thompson

JOHN GASCOIGNE. Science in the Service of the Empire: Joseph Banks, the British State, and the Uses of Science in the Age of Revolution. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Pp. vii, 247. $64.95 (US). Reviewed by Larry Stewart

PAUL WEBER. On the Road to Rebellion: The United Irishmen and Hamburg, 1796–1803. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1997; dist. Portland: ISBS. Pp. 205. $45.00 (US). Reviewed by Daire Keogh

JAC WELLER. On Wellington: The Duke and His Art of War, ed. Andrew Uffindell. London and Mechanicsburg: Greenhill Books and Stackpole Books, 1998. Pp. 191. £19.99. Reviewed by Brian M. de Toy

LAWRENCE S. KAPLAN. Thomas Jefferson: Westward the Course of Empire. Wilmington: Scholarly Resources, 1999. Pp. xvii, 198. $50.00 (US), cloth; $17.95 (US)) paper. Reviewed by Reginald C. Stuart

I. C. CAMPBELL. ‘Gone Native’ in Polynesia: Captivity Narratives and Experiences from the South Pacific. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1998. Pp. xi, 167. $55.00 (US). Reviewed by David A. Chappell

NICHOLAS TARLING. Nations and States in Southeast Asia. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Pp. x, 136. $59.95 (US), cloth; $17.95 (US), paper. Reviewed by A.J. Stockwell

JAMES CABLE. The Political Influence of Naval Force in History. New York: St Martin's Press, 1998. Pp. viii, 213. $59.95 (US). Reviewed by George W. Baer

NELIDA FUCCARO. The Other Kurds: Yazidis in Colonial Iraq. London and New York: I. B. Tauris, 1999; dist. New York: St Martin's Press. Pp. xiii, 230. $55.00 (US). Reviewed by Robert Olson

MARTIN A. KLEIN. Slavery and Colonial Rule in French West Africa. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Pp. xxi, 354. $54.95 (US), cloth; $19.95 (US), paper. Reviewed by William B. Cohen

JAIME E. RODRÍGUEZ O. The Independence of Spanish America. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Pp. xiii, 274. $59.95 (US). Reviewed by Timothy E. Anna

CARL BENN. The Iroquois in the War of 1812. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998. Pp. xi, 272. $21.95 (CDN), paper. Reviewed by K. David Milobar

PHILIP D. CURTIN. Disease and Empire: The Health of European Troops in the Conquest of Africa. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Pp. xiii, 256. $64.95 (US), cloth; $19.95 (US), paper. Reviewed by Daniel R. Headrick

TIMOTHY E. ANNA. Forging Mexico, 1821–1835. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1998. Pp. xiii, 330. $40.00 (US). Reviewed by Claudia Agostoni

GERALD STUDDERT-KENNEDY. Providence and the Raj: Imperial Mission and Missionary Imperialism. Walnut Creek, Calif.: AltaMira Press, 1998. Pp. 273. $44.95 (US). Reviewed by Penelope Carson

JANE SAMSON. Imperial Benevolence: Making British Authority in the Pacific Islands. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1998. Pp. xv, 240. $35.00 (US). Reviewed by Hugh Laracy

J. Y. WONG. Deadly Dreams: Opium, Imperialism, and the Arrow War (1856–1860) in China. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Pp. xxx, 542. $69.95 (US). Reviewed by D. W. Clayton

ELLIOTT WEST. The Contested Plains: Indians, Goldseekers, and the Rush to Colorado. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1998. Pp. xxiv, 422. $34.95 (US). Reviewed by Francis Paul Prucha

JACK L. HAMMERSMITH. Spoilsmen in a ‘Flowery Fairyland’: The Development of the US Legation in Japan, 1859–1906. Kent: Kent State University Press, 1998. Pp. xiv, 368. $49.00 (US). Reviewed by Antony Best

PETER STANLEY. White Mutiny: British Military Culture in India. New York: New York University Press, 1998. Pp. xiv, 314. $40.00 (US). Reviewed by Hew Strachan

JOHN C. G. RÖHL. Young Wilhelm: The Kaiser's Early Life, 1859–1888, trans. Jeremy Gaines and Rebecca Wallach. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Pp. xxv, 979. $74.95 (US). Reviewed by Lamar Cecil

DAVID MAYERS. Wars and Peace: The Future Americans Envisioned, 1861–1991. New York: St Martin's Press, 1998. Pp. viii, 184. $45.00 (US). Reviewed by Eileen P. Scully

SAMUEL L. BAILY. Immigrants in the Lands of Promise: Italians in Buenos Aires and New York City, 1870–1914. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1999. Pp. xvii, 308. $45.00 (US). Reviewed by Donald S. Castro

HIROAKI KUROMIYA. Freedom and Terror in the Donbas: A Ukrainian-Russian Borderland, 1870s–1990s. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Pp. xiv, 357. $44.95 (US). Reviewed by David Saunders

ANDREW LAMBERT. The Foundations of Naval History: John Knox Laughton, the Royal Navy, and the Historical Profession. London: Chatham Publishing, 1998. Pp. 256. £30.00. Reviewed by C. I. Hamilton

H. RAHMAN. The Making of the Gulf War: Origins of Kuwait's Long-Standing Territorial Dispute with Iraq. Reading: Ithaca Press, 1997. Pp. xv, 378. £35.00. Reviewed by Peter Sluglett

ROY MACLAREN, ed. African Exploits: The Diaries of William Stairs, 1887–1892. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1998. Pp. vi, 423. $49.95 (CDN); PETER HARRINGTON and FREDERIC A. SHARF, eds. Omdurman 1898: The Eye-Witnesses Speak: The British Conquest of the Sudan as Described by Participants in Letters, Diaries, Photos, and Drawings. London and Mechanicsburg: Greenhill Books and Stackpole Books, 1998. Pp. 236. £20.00. Reviewed by Philip Stigger

MATTHEW S. SELIGMANN. Rivalry in Southern Africa, 1893–99: The Transformation of German Colonial Policy. New York: St Martin's Press, 1998. Pp. vii, 200. $65.00 (US). Reviewed by Robert Kubicek

SALWA ALGHANIM. The Reign of Mubarak al-Sabah: Shaikh of Kuwait, 1896–1915. London and New York: I. B. Tauris, 1998; dist. New York: St Martin's Press. Pp. xiii, 242. $59.50 (US). Reviewed by Frederick F. Anscombe

RISTO MARJOMAA. War on the Savannah: The Military Collapse of the Sokoto Caliphate under the Invasion of the British Empire, 1897–1903. Helsinki: Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, 1998. Pp. 305. FIM 140; $28.00 (US). Reviewed by A. S. Kanya-Forstner

LOUIS A. PÉREZ, JR. The War of 1898: The United States and Cuba in History and Historiography. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1998. Pp. xvi, 171. $16.95 (US), paper. Reviewed by David Healy

MARK MAZOWER. Dark Continent: Europe's Twentieth Century. London: Allen Lane, The Penguin Press, 1998. Pp. xv, 495. £20.00. Reviewed by William R. Keylor

GUIDO MÜLLER, ed. Deutschland und der Westen: Internationale Beziehungen im 20. Jahrhundert: Festschrift fiir Klaus Schwabe zum 65. Geburtstag. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1998. Pp. 381. DM 138, paper. Reviewed by Rennie W. Brantz

NIALL FERGUSON. The Pity of War. New York: Basic Books, 1999. Pp. xliii, 563. $30.00 (US). Reviewed by Martin Kitchen

JAY WINTER and EMMANUEL SIVAN, eds. War and Remembrance in the Twentieth Century. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Pp. vii,260. $59.95 (US) Reviewed by R. J. B. Bosworth

GEORGE H. CASSAR. The Forgotten Front: The British Campaign in Italy, 1917–1918. London and Rio Grande: Hambledon Press, 1998. Pp. xiii, 269. $55.00 (US). Reviewed by William Philpott

DAVID DUTTON. The Politics of Diplomacy: Britain and France in the Balkans in the First World War. London and New York: I. B. Tauris, 1998; dist. New York: St Martin's Press. Pp. 248. $59.50 (US). Reviewed by David Stevenson

PAUL W. DOERR. British Foreign Policy, 1919–1939: ‘Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst’. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1998; dist. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. Pp. xi, 291. $28.95 (CDN), paper. Reviewed by Fred Stambrook

KURKPATRICK DORSEY. The Dawn of Conservation Diplomacy: US-Canadian Wildlife Protection Treaties in the Progressive Era. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1998. Pp. xvi, 311. $35.00 (US). Reviewed by Philip V. Scarpino

JACOB METZER. The Divided Economy of Mandatory Palestine. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Pp. xxii, 275. $59.95 (US). Reviewed by Martin Bunton

SASSON SOFER. Zionism and the Foundations of Israeli Diplomacy, trans. Dorodiea Shefet-Vanson. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Pp. xiii, 449. $64.95 (US); BEN HALPERN and JEHUDA REINHARZ. Zionism and the Creation of a New Society. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Pp. 293. $35.00 (US). Reviewed by Donna Robinson Divine

SHERI BERMAN. The Social Democratic Moment: Ideas and Politics in the Making of Interwar Europe. Cambridge, Mass, and London: Harvard University Press, 1998. Pp. xi, 308. $45.00 (US). Reviewed by William Lee Blackwood

ERIC PAUL ROORDA. The Dictator Next Door: The Good Neighbor Policy and the Trujillo Regime in the Dominican Republic, 1930–1945. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1998. Pp. xii, 337. $17.95 (US), paper. Reviewed by Irwin F. Gellman

M. E. YAPP, ed. Politics and Diplomacy in Egypt: The Diaries of Sir Miles Lampson, 1935–1937. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Pp. xvii, 1044. $332.50 (CDN). Reviewed by Robert L. Tignor

JOHN HERMAN. The Paris Embassy of Sir Eric Phipps: Anglo-French Relations and the Foreign Office, 1937–1939. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press, 1998; dist. Portland: ISBS. Pp. viii, 276. $75.00 (US). Reviewed by Keith Neilson

JAMES K. HOPKINS. Into the Heart of the Fire: The British in the Spanish Civil War. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998. Pp. xxii, 474. $60.00 (US). Reviewed by Willard C. Frank, Jr.

SUSAN A. BREWER. To Win the Peace: British Propaganda in the United States during World War II. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1997. Pp. xiii, 269. $39.95 (US). Reviewed by John Ramsden

JÜRGEN ROHWER. Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two: German, Italian, and Japanese Submarine Successes, 1939–1945. London: Greenhill Books, 1999. Pp. xvi, 366. £30.00. Reviewed by Michael L. Hadley

RICHARD OVERY. Russia's War. London: Allen Lane, The Penguin Press, 1998. Pp. xxi, 394. £20.00 Reviewed by Evan Mawdsley

DONALD H. AVERY. The Science of War: Canadian Scientists and Allied Military Technology during the Second World War. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998. Pp. xv, 406. $40.00 (CDN). Reviewed by Reg Whitaker

RANDALL L. SCHWELLER. Deadly Imbalances: Tripolarity and Hitler's Strategy of World Conquest. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997. Pp. x, 267. $21.50 (US), paper. Reviewed by Stephen A. Schuker

OOI KEAT GIN. Rising Sun over Borneo: The Japanese Occupation of Sarawak, 1941–1945. New York: St Martin's Press, 1999. Pp. xix, 158. $55.00 (US). Reviewed by Nicholas Tarling

LARRY I. BLAND, ed. George C. Marshall's Mediation Mission to China, December 1945–January 1947. Lexington: George C. Marshall Foundation, 1998. Pp. xx, 661. $60.00 (US). Reviewed by David L. Wilson

MICHAEL J. HOGAN. A Cross of Iron: Harry S. Truman and the Origins of the National Security State, 1945–1954. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Pp. xii, 525. $34.95 (US). Reviewed by Matthew Jones

ROGER S. WHITCOMB. The Cold War in Retrospect: The Formative Years. Westport: Praeger, 1998. Pp. xiii, 260. $65.00 (US). Reviewed by David S. Foglesong

EDELGARD MAHANT and GRAEME S. MOUNT. Invisible and Inaudible in Washington: American Policies toward Canada. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1999. Pp. xii, 252. $75.00 (CDN). Reviewed by Gordon T. Stewart

GARY B. OSTROWER. The United Nations and the United States. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1998. Pp. xvi, 317. $29.95 (US). Reviewed by Stanley Michalak

LARS BLINKENBERG. India-Pakistan: The History of Unsolved Conflicts: I: The Historical Part. Odense: Odense University Press, 1998; dist. Portland: ISBS. Pp. 337, paper; LARS BLINKENBERG. India-Pakistan: The History of Unsolved Conflicts: II: An Analysis of Some Structural Factors. Odense: Odense University Press, 1998; dist. Portland: ISBS. Pp. 433. $61.50 (US, for both), paper. Reviewed by Hasan-Askari Rizvi

MARY ANN HEISS. Empire and Nationhood: The United States, Great Britain, and Iranian Oil, 1950–1954. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997. Pp. x, 328. $19.50 (US), paper. Reviewed by Helmut Mejcher

ANDREW MORAVCSIK. The Choice for Europe: Social Purpose and State Power from Messina to Maastricht. Idiaca: Cornell University Press, 1998. Pp. xii, 514. $22.50 (US), paper. Reviewed by Pierre-Henri Laurent

YOSEF GOVRIN. Israeli-Soviet Relations, 1953–1967: From Confrontation to Disruption. London and Portland: Frank Cass, 1998. Pp. xxxvi, 347. $59.50 (US), cloth; $27.50 (US), paper. Reviewed by Michael Graham Fry

JEFFREY PICKERING. Britain's Withdrawal from East of Suez: The Politics of Retrenchment. New York: St Martin's Press, 1998. Pp. xi, 231. $65.00 (US); MICHAEL J. COHEN and MARTIN KOLINSKY, eds. Demise of the British Empire in the Middle East: Britain's Responses to Nationalist Movements, 1943–55. London and Portland: Frank Cass, 1998. Pp. xv, 255. $54.50 (US). Reviewed by Tore Tingvold Petersen

DAVID R. MORRISON. Aid and Ebb Tide: A History of CIDA and Canadian Development Assistance. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1998. Pp. xxi, 602. $65.00 (CDN). Reviewed by Kim Richard Nossal

FRITZ FISCHER. Making Them, Like Us: Peace Corps Volunteers in the 1960s. Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1998. Pp. viii, 237. $27.95 (US). Reviewed by Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman

ROLAND DANNREUTHER. The Soviet Union and the PLO. New York: St Martin's Press, 1998. Pp. ix, 222. $59.95 (US); FRED WEHLING. Irresolute Princes: Kremlin Decision Making in Middle East Crises, 1967–1973. New York: St Martin's Press, 1997. Pp. 225. $49.95 (US). Reviewed by Fred Halliday

ELINOR C. SLOAN. Bosnia and the New Collective Security. Westport: Praeger, 1998. Pp. xii, 128. $49.95 (US). Reviewed by Donald M. Snow

STEVE TSANG. Hong Kong: Appointment with China. London and New York: I. B. Tauris, 1997; dist. New York: St Martin's Press. Pp. xiii, 274. $17.95 (US), paper; JOHN FLOWERDEW. The Final Years of British Hong Kong: The Discourse of Colonial Withdrawal. New York: St Martin's Press, 1998. Pp. xxi, 258. $65.00 (US). Reviewed by Ian Scott

STEPHEN HOPGOOD. American Foreign Environmental Policy and the Power of the State. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Pp. x, 262. $94.50 (CDN).Reviewed by Dimitris Stevis

JERROLD L. SCHECTER. Russian Negotiating Behavior: Continuity and Transition. Washington: United States Institute of Peace Press, 1998. Pp. ix, 225. $14.95 (US), paper. Reviewed by Stephen White

PETER TRUBOWITZ, EMILY O. GOLDMAN, and EDWARD RHODES, eds. The Politics of Strategic Adjustment: Ideas, Institutions, and Interests. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. Pp. viii, 331. $20.50 (US), paper Reviewed by John H. Maurer

PETER BURROUGHS and A. J. STOCKWELL, eds. Managing the Business of Empire: Essays in Honour of David Fieldhouse. London and Portland: Frank Cass, 1998. Pp. 262. $45.00 (US). Reviewed by John Flint

CHARLES JONES. E. H. Carr and International Relations: A Duty to Lie. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Pp. xvii, 179. $54.95 (US), cloth; $19.95 (US), paper. Reviewed by Christopher Brewin

PAUL GORDON LAUREN. The Evolution of International Human Rights: Visions Seen. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998. Pp. xiii, 385. $29.95 (US), paper; WILLIAM KOREY. NGOs and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: ‘A Curious Grapevine’. New York: St Martin's Press, 1998. Pp. xi, 638. $39.95 (US). Reviewed by J. G. Merrills

CHRISTOPHER COKER. War and the Illiberal Conscience. Boulder: Westview Press, 1998. Pp. xvi, 240. $39.00 (US). Reviewed by John Mueller     

The arming of non-state actors in the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula

Rebellious non-state actors of the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula have been arming themselves through smuggling networks operating in north-east Africa and the Middle East. They feature complex, dynamic, open systems which include many components of various organisational and national identities, and which are driven by various motives, united in order to accomplish the goal of arms smuggling. Previously, this system was dominated by the supply of Iranian large and high-quality weapon systems, mainly rockets, to the Palestinian Hamas, enabling them to build up military force that has sustained long-standing conflict against the stronger Israel. The Arab turmoil initiated dramatic changes in the arming system: Iran stopped, at least temporarily, the channelling of weapons to the Hamas due to its support of the Syrian opposition against the Assad regime. Egypt blocked many of Hamas's smuggling tunnels, intensifying Hamas's strategic isolation. Following the removal of Gaddafi and lack of government, Libya became a major arms source, serving mainly regional radical Islamic groups. Salafist jihadist groups in Sinai revolted against the Egyptian government, using huge local stockpiles of weapons and operational cooperation with Palestinian Islamists. This article argues that to survive, rebellious non-state actors must exploit arming opportunities in the physical, social and political environment, whereas securing shared borders is vital for defeating rebellious non-state actors. The arming of non-state actors should be analysed broadly, considering the needs of the civilian population among whom the militants are operating.     

Wild lentil and chickpea harvest in Israel: bearing on the origins of Near Eastern farming

Several small seeded plants were domesticated as grain crops in the Near East and other domestication centers. In this study we investigate the potential of small seeded wild lentils, and chickpea as a food source for hunters-gatherers. The yield potential and the return in terms of grams of seeds per hour of collection time were evaluated in several wild populations in Israel. The yield figures never exceeded 50 g/h, and in most cases were below 20 g/h. These data reaffirm Ladizinsky's claim that wild lentils are unlikely to have been a staple resource for hunter-gatherers prior to plant domestication. The result presented herein may be significant vis-a-vis the role attributed to small seeded (‘inefficient’) plants in the Broad Spectrum hypothesis concerning late Paleolithic, pre-agricultural societies. It may also contribute to a more careful interpretation of plant remains recovered from pre-agricultural sites.