Towards the Long-promised Peace: History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

by Fred Rice (Translator), OmarMassalha (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2001

  $6.19

  They've come face to face for the first time. They're talking for the first time - even if it can't yet be called a real dialogue. Palestinians and Israelis - two peoples on the same land, a land that is sacred for three religions, two peoples with a history stretching back over 1000 years. The dominant regional power (Israel) bases the legitimacy of its claims on its suffering in the past, whereas the dominated (the Palestinians) find it difficult to make their voice heard - many people, even among the Arabs, are determined to see the Palestinians merely as terrorists or refugees. If an agreement is to be reached, it is time to break out of the climate of suspicion and turn to an objective examination of the various matters in dispute. When curses are mixed with abusive sterotypes, and a simplistic rewriting of the historical facts is added to tendentious interpretations, how can one hope to understand a conflict where the history of civilizations, religious symbols (particularly in Jerusalem), international law, and matters of economy and strategy are already inextricably mixed? This volume deals with all the issues involved in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, and allows the reader to penetrate the corridors of Madrid and Washington, where the peace talks got under way. It gives the avenues that might lead to peace.