A rambling but occasionally insightful study of the political,
economic, and psychological dynamics between Israeli Jews and
Palestinian and Israeli Arabs, particularly during the period
between the Temple Mount Massacre (Oct. 1990) and the Rabin-Arafat
handshake at the White House (Sept. 1993). Benvenisti, Jerusalem's
former deputy mayor (1971-78) and currently a columnist for the
Israeli daily Ha'aretz, has very critical things to say about both
sides of the conflict. He faults Israel for practicing a kind of
malign neglect of Palestinian economic and political needs, for
repeatedly trying to internationalize what he feels is inescapably
an intercommunal conflict (e.g., by playing the "Jordanian option"
when dealing directly with the Palestinians has seemed too
fruitless or exasperating), and favoring the structurally
unachievable goal of separation of the two communities. As for the
Palestinians, besides geopolitical misjudgments culminating in
support for Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War and Arafat's
apparent fiscal corruption and political heavy-handedness toward
internal opponents, Benvenisti feels they mistakenly view the
conflict as an anticolonialist struggle, such as that of the
Algerians against the French during the 1950s. He raises the
possible solution of an "Israel/Palestine" confederation that
"combines ethnic and cultural separation within a common
geopolitical framework on the basis of national equality and a
clear definition of the rights and obligations of the two ethnic
components." But given each community's ties to a diaspora, the
sharp economic inequality between, their very different political
traditions, and a long history of enmity, such a confederation
seems utterly unrealistic for the foreseeable future. But then, the
history of the Israeli-Arab conflict is anything but predictable.
It's clear how knowledgeable and passionately engaged he is in his
subject, but Benvenisti's overly academic style and lack of
historical and anecdotal material makes this book less appealing
than other recent works on the conflict. (Kirkus Reviews)
As Israelis and Palestinians negotiate separation and division of
their land, Meron Benvenisti, former Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem,
maintains that any expectations for 'peaceful partition' are
doomed. In his brave and controversial new book, he raises the
possibility of a confederation of Israel/Palestine, the only
solution that he feels will bring lasting peace. The seven million
people in the territory between Jordan and the Mediterranean are
mutually dependent regarding employment, water, land use, ecology,
transportation, and all other spheres of human activity. Each side,
Benvenisti says, must accept the reality that two national entities
are living within one geopolitical entity - their conflict is inter
communal and will not be resolved by population transfers or land
partition. A geographer and historian by training, a man
passionately rooted in his homeland, Benvenisti skillfully conveys
the perspective of both Israeli and Palestinian communities. He
recognizes the great political and ideological resistance to a
confederation, but argues that there are Israeli Jews and
Palestinians who can envision an undivided land, where attachment
to a common homeland is stronger than militant tribalism and
segregation in national ghettos. Acknowledging that equal
coexistence between Israeli and Palestinian may yet be an
impossible dream, he insists that such a dream deserves a place in
the current negotiations. 'Meron Benvenisti is the Middle East
expert to whom Middle East experts go for advice...the most
oft-quoted and oft-damned analyst in Israel' - from the Foreword by
Thomas L. Friedman.
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