Waging Peace
Israel and the Arabs, 1948-2003 - Updated and Revised Edition
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- $32.99
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- $32.99
Publisher Description
Considerably expanded to include the impact of the 2003 war in Iraq and its aftermath, this new edition of Waging Peace provides a unique insight into the critical debate on the future of peace in the Middle East. A former chief negotiator for Israel, noted scholar-diplomat Itamar Rabinovich examines the complete history of Arab-Israeli relations beginning in 1948. He then gives a vivid account of the peace processes of 1992-1996 and the more dispiriting record since then. His updated analysis on Iraq, Ehud Barak, and Ariel Sharon--and on the expanding role of the United States in the Middle East--sheds new light on the long and tumultuous history between Arabs and Jews.
As Rabinovich brings the conflict into this century, he widens the scope of his proposals for achieving normalized and peaceful Arab-Israeli relations. While he considers the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians--a classic dispute between two national movements claiming the same land--Rabinovich also studies the broader political, cultural, and increasingly religious conflict between Israel and Arab nationalism and discusses the region in an international context.
Rabinovich's firsthand experiences as a negotiator and an ambassador provide an extraordinary perspective on the major players involved. The result is a shrewd assessment of the past and current state of affairs, as well as a hopeful look at the possibilities for a peaceful future.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
When a veteran Israeli diplomat such as Rabinovich tackles the daunting task of bringing clarity to the relationships between Israel and its Arab neighbors, including the Palestinians, readers should avail themselves of the opportunity to learn something. This lucid primer on Middle East diplomacy is timed to coincide with Israels May elections. As head of the Israeli delegation that negotiated with Syria from 1992 to 1995 and as a former ambassador to the U.S., Rabinovich had a good view of the diplomatic footwork that followed the Madrid conference and the Oslo Accords between Israel and the PLO. While he offers summaries of Israels postCamp David cold peace with Egypt and its negotiations with PLO proxies (before direct talks), Rabinovich is most enlightening when discussing the very difficult negotiations with Syria and when demonstrating how the intricacies of domestic Isreali politics figure in the calculations of its negotiating counterparts. He is also very adept at explaining how, despite paying lip service to pan-Arab solidarity, Egypts Hosni Mubarak, Syrias Hafez al-Asad, Jordans King Hussein and PLO chairman Yasir Arafat were also competing against one another for advantage (and, frequently, for American favor). A firm advocate of the peace process, Rabinovich is cautiously optimistic. While celebrating the fact that a web of vested interests, relations and expectations condusive to peace has been established, he envisions peace arriving, if it arrives at all, haltingly, over many years and with many setbacks.
