I haven't finished it yet, but "The Siege" by Conor Cruise O'Brien seems to be what you're looking for - it covers the history of Israel in good detail up until the early '80s.

Hey, I'm asking all you historians, which book gives the best overall but unbaised secular view of Israel from say 1870 to 1970 -- something that covers the rise of Zionism, the founding of Israel and the wars of Yom Kippur and Six Days. I've got Gideon's Spies but most other options I've been looking at look like propaganda fluff pieces for various pro- or anti-Israel writers. Thanks.

Because of the Israel Palestine conflict you just aren't going to find really unbiased books on Israel. Even people who aren't just writing "propaganda fluff pieces" tend to have a specific viewpoint they are writing from when it comes to something this contentious. When even the names by which places should be called in a text is disputed it is hard to write objectively. I would recommenced reading a variety of sources from different viewpoints and forming your own conclusions.

The closest you are going to find to an actually unbiased source that covers Israel is The Israel-Palestine Conflict: Contested Histories by Neil Caplan. His work strives to avoid bias by discussing and assessing all the various claims about each event rather than presenting one authoritative version of events.

Also Side by Side: Parallel Histories of Israel-Palestine is a really interesting book and something I would recommend. It basically prints the high school curriculum given to Israeli students on one page and the curriculum given to Palestinian students on the other side. It is interesting to see how they differ.

I have found two that should suit my needs: Side by Side by Eyal Naveh Prime and Israel: A History, Revised, by Martin Gilbert.

Everything else I looked for is unavailable in my local neck of the woods or costs too many monies.

Thanks all.