During 1960, the Arab states continued to declare their intentions of destroying Israel, and endeavoured to undermine its international standing and harm its security. In March matters nearly deteriorated into a war between Israel and Egypt together with Syria, which at the time were united in the United Arab Republic. Israeli vessels were still barred from navigating the Suez Canal; attempts were made to disrupt Israel's plans to divert water from the Jordan river to the Negev; companies intending to establish commercial ties with Israel were threatened with embargo; and the issue of the Arab refugees was used as a stick to beat Israel with. In addition, the Arab states did their best to obstruct Israel's political initiatives such as achieving an agreement with the European Economic Community, establishing diplomatic relations with the Vatican and expanding its ties with emerging states in Africa and Asia. In view of the threats made by Arab states and their accelerated rate of rearmament, actively assisted by the Soviet Union, Israel also wished to increase the number of its weapons suppliers, which were limited mainly to France, West Germany and Britain, by purchasing arms from the United States, but this initiative was unsuccessful.

The central event in Israel's foreign relations that year was the historic meeting between David Ben-Gurion and the West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer which took place in New York and led to Israel's receiving valuable military and economic aid. Ben-Gurion also met with French President Charles de Gaulle and British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. Ben-Gurion's attempts to meet with Soviet leaders, however, were unsuccessful and this state, as well as its clients in East Europe, continued to be hostile towards Israel.

In May 1960 Israel captured WWII criminal Adolph Eichmann in Argentina, with the intent of bringing him to trial. This caused a serious crisis in Israel's relations with Argentina, but by the end of the year the two states had patched up their differences.

The volume contains 552 documents plus appendixes.