In this ethnographic study originally published in 1955 by Schocken Books, New York, Goitein addressed the post-Israel statehood relationship between Jews and Arab Muslims in the context of the long history of their divergent and convergent cultures. M.R. Cohen (Princeton U.) provides a new introduction to this reissue of the third revised edition of a work that should be of interest to all seeking insights into the roots of modern frictions.