The authors offer the instructive examples of David Ben-Gurion, Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Rabin, and Ariel Sharon as guides for the next step. They observe that long-term Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not believe peace with the Palestinians is in his political interest and is allowing the issue to drift inexorably toward the establishment of a binational state. (Oct.Profiles in leadership spotlighting four towering figures in Israeli history who took great “risks for an elusive peace”-and why those qualities are needed in our current time.Īmerican authors Ross and Makovsky (co-authors: Myths, Illusions, and Peace: Finding a New Direction for America in the Middle East, 2009) are both passionately committed to Israeli-Palestinian peace and diplomacy and believe the current Israeli leadership cannot deliver the solution. Readers of all political persuasions will enjoy this fresh, contrarian analysis of America’s Middle East policy.

Ross’s fluently written account includes colorful firsthand recollections of crises and diplomatic wranglings. relations with Arab countries his well-argued conclusion is that Arab leaders consistently place other priorities above the Palestinian issue and give America no credit for distancing itself from Israel, instead expecting still more concessions.

A countervailing dynamic, the author contends, has been the persistent belief in the State Department and elsewhere that close ties to Israel would damage U.S. One is the steady strengthening of the relationship as America came to view Israel as a partner against Soviet influence and terrorism, and as domestic political sentiment embraced Israel. Ross deftly explores the contingencies of this history, which hinged on personality clashes, the chaos of events, and the personal attitudes held by presidents, while stressing broader themes. Bush, and cold snaps under Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Carter, George H.W. Ross ( The Missing Peace), a diplomat and policy maker in several American administrations, surveys presidential policy toward Israel as it oscillated through warm spells under Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Reagan, Clinton, and George W. One of the world’s strongest alliances emerged through fractiousness and misunderstanding, according to this insightful history of American-Israeli relations by a noted participant observer.

Doomed to Succeed by Dennis Ross