The Absence of Peace: Understanding the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict - Hardcover

Guyatt, Nicholas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1856495795 ISBN 13: 9781856495790

Publisher: Zed Books Ltd, 1998

Synopsis

Why does the Israeli army still occupy the vast majority of the West Bank? Why has the Palestinian standard of living declined dramatically since the beginning of the Oslo peace process? Why do suicide bombers attack Israel's cities? Fifty years after Israel's founding, why is there no peace between Israelis and Palestinians? The Absence of Peace offers an answer to all these questions, combining an analysis of the political events surrounding the Oslo process with an account of life on the ground in the West Bank and Gaza Strip under the 'peace' regime. Nicholas Guyatt explains the historical context of the latest peace efforts and the motives and interests of the various players, regional and international, who are party to the agreements. This book also plots the disastrous course on which the present peace process is headed, towards a greater Israel, a series of Palestinian reservations and even more violence between the two sides. Most importantly, The Absence of Peace rejects the suggestions that there is no solution to the conflict, and offers practical ideas for a more stable and enduring agreement between Palestinians and Israelis.

About this title

Review

'The peace process in the Middle East has been seriously misunderstood, in my opinion, with very unfortunate human consequences. Nick Guyatt's lucid and well-informed study is a badly needed corrective. I hope that it will be widely read, and will help bring about a redirection that is imperative if ominous prospects are to be averted, and some measure of peace and justice are to be achieved.' Noam Chomsky

Synopsis

Suicide bombings continue remorselessly to traumatize the Israeli people as the world's media bring dramatic pictures of the terror and carnage caused. Much less publicized, however, is the daily anger, poverty and fear of West Bank and Gaza Palestinians as a result of the expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories, economic sanctions and constant retaliations. This book looks at why the signing of the Oslo Accords failed to lead to peace. Nicholas Guyatt argues that the problem is not just the incomplete implementation of the Accords, but their very conception. There can be no economically viable Palestinian state, nor one acceptable to the Palestinians, so long as its territory remains fragmented, the Palestinian Authority becomes a surrogate policeman for the Israeli government, and the Palestinian enclaves are dependent on Israel for access to the power, jobs and the outside world. This book needs to be read by all those who are puzzled by why the Oslo process seems to be making so little progress, and who wish to understand whether there may be alternatives holding out more hope of a permanent and just settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

About this edition

• Publisher: Zed Books Ltd
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 1856495795
• ISBN 13: 9781856495790
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224