Translated by Haim Watzman
"A unique account of a complex and subtle negotiation about the
most disputed city in the world. Its point of view is clear, but it
is nonetheless a balanced presentation. In place of generalizations
it tries to get at what really happened."--David Matz, University
of Massachusetts, Boston
"Anyone concerned with the horrible violence between Palestinians
and Israelis will want to read this fascinating, behind-the-scenes
account of the negotiations that preceded the violence, and why
they failed. It was like a thriller that I could not put down, even
though I knew the gory ending."--Joel S. Migdal, University of
Washington
Assessing one of the most serious issues of our day, Menachem
Klein is the first to employ rigorous research to analyze all sides
of official negotiations over Israeli-Palestinian territorial
disputes. He focuses especially on the Camp David talks of 2000 and
the Taba talks of 2001 and on discussions of the future of
Jerusalem, offering a clear balance sheet of what went right, what
went wrong, and what remains of the failed peace process.
Klein, an advisor to the Israeli team during the Camp David
talks and a member of several Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy groups,
argues that the negotiations themselves created a negative dynamic
and that the violent outcome was neither inevitable nor entirely
determined by the personalities of their participants. He maintains
that the Israeli and Palestinian negotiators and leaders interacted
destructively and that the American interaction with each side was
detrimental; the prevailing strategy was one that set out lines
that could not be crossed, instituting a style of bargaining that
stymied negotiations. While all three parties shattered long-held
preconceptions about how issues should be resolved, the talks ended
in bloodshed. Moreover, neither side has ever drafted a single
definitive document delineating what was understood and said at
Camp David.
Beginning with the opening of the official permanent status
talks, which sparked strong initial hopes, Klein tracks diplomacy
on all sides from 1994 onward. He synthesizes a profusion of
unresolved issues, including Palestinian state borders, Israeli
settlements, and the future of the Palestinian war refugees of
1948, and he disproves a number of claims made by the Israeli and
Palestinian actors involved in the process. He also illuminates
such questions as whether the talks commenced too early for one or
both sides, whether the push for a final settlement was the caprice
of three or four senior decision-makers disconnected from their
constituencies, and whether the cycle of violence has turned back
the clock.
Based on Klein's personal experience in official and informal
talks between the two sides, this absorbing book offers a rare
perspective and level of detail on international negotiation. It
will become a prerequisite for all future theoretical discussion of
issues at the heart of the Middle East conflict.
Menachem Klein, senior lecturer in political science at Bar-Ilan
University in Israel, is the author or editor of four books,
including Jerusalem: The Contested City and Doves in the Jerusalem
Sky: The Peace Process and the City, 1977-1999. He served as an
adviser to the Israeli team during the Camp David talks and is a
member of several Israeli-Palestinian track-two diplomacy
groups.
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