Pathways to Peace: America and the Arab-Israeli Conflict ed. by Daniel C. Kurtzer, and: Brokers of Deceit: How the US Has Undermined Peace in the Middle East by Rashid Khalidi (review)

Pathways to Peace: America and Arab-Israeli Conflict, ed. by Daniel C. Kurtzer. New York. Palgrave Macmillan. 2012. 237 pages. $30. Brokers of Deceit: How US Has Undermined Peace in Middle East, by Rashid Khalidi. Boston, MA: Beacon Press. 2012. 167 pages. $25.95.Twenty years ago this summer, Israeli and Palestinian leaders meeting secretly in land of midnight sun hammered out parameters for a two-state solution based on principle of for land. In Sep- tember 1993, Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leader Yasir Arafat shook hands in Rose Garden and, with US President Bill Clinton's blessing, unveiled Oslo Peace Process that was supposed to produce a fi- nal agreement ending three generations of conflict in Holy Land. Two decades later, however, two sides are farther apart than ever, hundreds of Israelis and thousands of Palestinians have died at each other's hands, and US policy-makers seem to regard conflict as insoluble. The two books under review here offer radically different explana- tions of what went wrong and what must be done to secure a just and lasting peace.Daniel Kurtzer's Pathways to Peace is a collection of essays by veteran American, Israeli, and Palestinian peace processors who remain convinced that a two-state so- lution is still only way to end con- flict. Three experienced US negotiators - Kurtzer, William Quandt, and Aaron David Miller - all of whom began their careers during 1970s, point out that Arab- Israeli conflict has always seemed unripe for resolution, even on eve of major breakthroughs like 1978 Camp David Accords and 1991 Madrid Peace Con- ference. All three now feel a great sense of urgency because if United States cannot jump-start stalled process very soon, steady expansion of Israeli settle- ments on West Bank and growing cyni- cism among Palestinian people and their leaders will make dream of two states, one Jewish and other Arab, living side by side in Holy Land, impossible.The Arab contributors to this volume insist that despite Israeli claims to con- trary, PLO remains a reliable partner for peace. Marwan Muasher, a Jordanian diplo- mat who served as King Abdullah II's for- eign minister for two years, argues that key to keeping Palestinians on board is to breathe new life into 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, a Saudi-backed proposal that promised unconditional Arab recognition of Israel in exchange for Israel withdraw- ing to the Green that demarcated its pre-1967 borders. Samih al-Abid and Samir Hileleh, who held positions in Palestin- ian Authority throughout Oslo era, con- tend that biggest obstacle to resump- tion of negotiations is Israel's knee- jerk bashing of PLO to score debating points with American Jews. And Ghassan Khatib, who served on PLO's negotiat- ing team during 1990s, blasts United States for failing to condemn Israeli foes of two-state solution such as Michael Freund, an aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who brazenly remarked in 2011 that the Green Line is dead and buried because is no longer of any relevance, politically or otherwise (p. 77).The Israeli contributors to Pathways to Peace support two-state solution not merely as a matter of simple justice but also as only way to avoid a binational one- state solution that would eventually make Jews a minority and Palestinians a majority in a single political entity west of Jordan River. Avi Gil, director-general of Isra- el's Ministry of Foreign Affairs under Ariel Sharon, says it all in subtitle of his essay: Don't Wait for Dust to Settle; Act Now. Yossi Alpher, a special adviser to Prime Minister Ehud Barak at abortive 2000 Camp David II Summit, says that American officials must walk a diplomatic tightrope, assuaging Israeli anxieties about Palestinian untrustworthiness while curbing Israel's ap- petite for more land on West Bank. …