Preventing Palestine

Brilliantly conceived and researched, Preventing Palestine joins a very short list of essential works on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and on U.S. relations with the Middle East. -Bradley Simpson, University of Connecticut Probing deep causes, Preventing Palestine vividly recounts the drive by Palestinians to achieve national self-determination and a parallel effort by Israelis to thwart that movement. We already know the outcome of the contest (at least so far), but Seth Anziska's story is gripping nonetheless. And highly revealing: for the author also lays bare the willingness of Americans and even Egyptians to go along with the Israeli campaign. Anziska transforms our understanding of recent Middle Eastern history. -Salim Yaqub, University of California, Santa Barbara Anziska's meticulous research and compelling analysis of the unexpected continuity that runs throughout the turbulent years of Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking makes this book invaluable for expert and layperson alike. -Gershon Shafir, author of A Half Century of Occupation: Israel, Palestine, and the World's Most Intractable Conflict Preventing Palestine is a must-read for understanding why a two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict hasn't been achieved. The book provides an objective and foreboding picture of a political reality where a people's rights are marginalized by a brazen military power unchecked by international order and largely supported by the United States. This is a story of Israel's success, but one that paradoxically leaves it facing its ever-more-assertive existential nemesis. -Sari Nusseibeh, author of Once Upon a Country: A Palestinian Life Seth Anziska's book illuminates a crucial chapter in Middle Eastern history and U.S. foreign policy, and shows how the breakthrough peace agreement between Egypt and Israel created a roadblock to peace between Israel and the Palestinians. The breadth and depth of Anziska's research is remarkable. -Gershom Gorenberg, author of The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967-1977 Preventing Palestine is an essential account of a reality obscured by hostile political agendas and unabashed bias. Seth Anziska uncovers the complex forces that have prevented Palestinian statehood and contributed to the destructive dynamic on the ground. With searing honesty, he traces the failures of the so-called Palestinian-Israeli peace process and describes the result: the tragic injustice inflicted on the people of Palestine. This is a historical revelation of enormous magnitude. -Hanan Ashrawi, member of the PLO Executive Committee In Israel's animated political discourse, the Camp David Accords are universally acclaimed while the Oslo Accords are bitterly debated between Left and Right. In this perceptive, thoroughly researched book, Seth Anziska reveals the strong connection between the two agreements and the extent to which Oslo drew on Camp David's autonomy plan. Preventing Palestine is mandatory reading for understanding the complexities and ironies of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. -Itamar Rabinovich, author of Yitzhak Rabin: Soldier, Leader, Statesman In Anziska's deeply researched book, the idea of a negotiated path to a viable Palestinian state was first betrayed at Camp David in the late 1970s, when US president Jimmy Carter, Menachem Begin, Israel's rightwing prime minister, and Egyptian president Anwar Sadat brokered the accord that brought a lasting peace between Egypt and Israel. ---Mehul Srivastava, Financial Times This splendid book by a young American Jewish scholar is the product of an early emotional and intellectual transformation . . . His combination of original research and personal fearlessness has produced one of the most compelling works of political and diplomatic history I have ever read . . . Anziska has made a major contribution to the history of this conflict. ---Charles Kaiser, The Guardian