Description
Book SynopsisEach phase of Arab-Israeli peacemaking has been inordinately difficult in its own right, and every critical juncture and decision point in the long process has been shaped by U.S. politics and the U.S. leaders of the moment. The Peace Puzzle tracks the American determination to articulate policy, develop strategy and tactics, and see through negotiations to agreements on an issue that has been of singular importance to U.S. interests for more than forty years.
In 2006, the authors of The Peace Puzzle formed the Study Group on Arab-Israeli Peacemaking, a project supported by the United States Institute of Peace, to develop a set of best practices for American diplomacy. The Study Group conducted in-depth interviews with more than 120 policymakers, diplomats, academics, and civil society figures and developed performance assessments of the various U.S. administrations of the postCold War period. This book, an objective account of the role of the United States in attempting to a
Trade Review
The collective Middle East experience of the authors is unsurpassed. Their analysis is terse, and their portrait of U.S. efforts to broker Arab-Israeli peace is bleak.... The authors assert that American policymakers must address the core issues, transform their natural bias toward Israel into a positive factor, recapture bipartisan resolve to tackle the issue, maintain continuity across administrations, and persuade the Israelis and the Palestinians that Washington understands and respects their fundamental interests.
* Foreign Affairs *
The originality of this new book is to propose a distanced analysis that draws on 120 interviews with the implied decision-makers of American political involvement in the Middle East from 1989-2011...The authors take care to compare the remarks of their interviewees with available official documents, journalist investigations, as well as already-publicized testimonies. The result is a study that draws constantly on its foundational material, citing interviews that support and enrich the argument.
* Politique Américaine *
A must-read for anyone who desires to truly understand this critical and complex quest for Middle East peace.
* Israel Book Review *
Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Decline of American Mideast Diplomacy
1. Opportunities Created, Opportunities Lost: Negotiations at Oslo and Madrid
2. Within Reach: Israeli- Syrian Negotiations of the 1990s
3. The Collapse of the Israeli- Palestinian Negotiations
4. George W. Bush Reshapes America's Role
5. The Annapolis Denouement
6. Obama: An Early Assessment
Epilogue: Lessons Learned and UnlearnedNotes
Index
