Israel and Palestine : peace plans and proposals from Oslo to disengagement /

Delivering a readable and remarkably evenhanded account, Golan, an Israeli activist and professor of government, dissects each of the major Israeli and Palestinian peace attempts, from Oslo in 1993 to the 2005 Israeli disengagement from Gaza, and evaluates the current prospects for peace. Avoiding overstatement and diatribe, she meticulously analyzes the letter and spirit of these accords, weaving complex issues (such as the status of 1947-1948 refugees and East Jerusalem) into the modern political context (Sharon's rise to power, Palestinian uprisings, etc.). On the positive side, she shows, this decade-plus of negotiations has brought an acceptance of the 1967 borders as a basic framework of agreement. From the beginning, however, these negotiations were beset with a lack of trust and a dramatic power imbalance, and were consistently undermined by Israeli military occupation and settlement programs and Palestinian terrorism. Despite the difficult subject matter, Golan remains as critical of her own government as she is of its Arab counterparts-and bolsters her analysis with helpful maps and full annexes of the agreements. Her conclusion is refreshingly, if ambitiously, optimistic: despite the violence and intransigence of both sides, she argues that Israelis and Palestinians are substantially closer to peace now than when the talks began. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved