In its first cover story on Israel, dated Aug, 16, 1948, TIME hailed the newborn nation and Prime Minister David Ben Gurion with some prophetic words: "Although in years to come, fighting might break out again and again ... it was to stop pondering the settled question of whether there would be a Jewish state, time to start asking what kind of nation Israel was." In the 33 years since that historic moment, TIME has never stopped looking for the answer. Israel's significance as a key U.S. ally and as the spiritual home for millions of American Jews has given it a special importance in the eyes of U.S. journalists-- and a special prominence in the pages of TIME. As a result Isreal and its role in the Middle East have been the subjects of 35 TIME area cover stories, more then any other country or geographical area except the Soviet Union. Certainly the most enduring and tragic feature of Israel's troubled history has been its near constant fear of war. In 1967, when Isreal fought Arab armies, TIME covered its stunning victory. Six years later, in the October War, TIME reported on the surprise attack by Egypt and Syria and Isreal's resounding comeback. Time also devoted a number of cover stories to the search for peace in the Middle East, including Prime Minister Golda Meir's last-minute steps to avert full scale war in 1969 and the momentus summit between Isreal's Menachem Begin and Egypt's Anwar Sadat in 1977. Only 5 weeks ago a TIME cover story examined Isreal today and its economic and political future. This week Begin's "defensive" strike against Iraq is the subject of yet another cover story.

For this week's story, Beirut Bureau Chief William Stewart flew to Baghdad, while TIME correspondents in Paris, London, Washington and other capitals helped assess world reaction. To learn why and how Isreal struck, the Jerusalem bureau drew on an extensive network of scientific, military and diplomatic sources. Says Bureau Chief David Aikman: "There is something almost cosmic about Isreal's conflict with its neighbors. Where else in the world would the chief of the Air Force quote the Bible in answer to a reporter's question?

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