Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace: Patterns, Problems, Possibilities

by Laura Zittrain Eisenberg, Neil Caplan

Overview

Fifteen years since the publication of its second edition, this foundational text in Arab-Israeli peace studies has been updated to include developments from the first two decades of the twenty-first century.

Thoroughly revised and expanded, the third edition of Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace examines the history of recurrent efforts to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict since the 1970s and identifies a pattern of negative negotiating behaviors that seem to repeatedly derail efforts to achieve peace. In addition to updating all of the book's existing chapters with post-2010 sources and developments, Eisenberg and Caplan have added new chapters to the text on the two-state solution and Arab-Israeli "normalization," a conclusion that questions several core notions regarding the nature of the conflict and its possible resolution, an epilogue that extends the book's framework into present-day crises in the region, and several new visual sources. This edition also includes four new case studies, with new material on the Arab Peace Initiative, the Annapolis Conference, the Kerry mission, and the Abraham Accords.

By measuring contemporary diplomatic episodes against the pattern of counterproductive negotiating habits, Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace makes possible a coherent comparison of over seventy years of Arab-Israeli negotiations and gives readers a framework with which to assess the relative strengths and weaknesses of peace-making attempts in the past, present, and future.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780253072559
Publisher:	Indiana University Press
Publication date:	03/04/2025
Edition description:	3rd ed.
Pages:	480
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Laura Zittrain Eisenberg is Professor Emerita of History at Carnegie Mellon University. She is author (with Neil Caplan) of both editions of Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace: Patterns, Problems, Possibilities (IUP, 1998, 2010) and My Enemy's Enemy: Lebanon in the Early Zionist Imagination, 1900-1948.
Neil Caplan is Scholar in Residence at Vanier College and Affiliate Faculty in the Department of History at Concordia University. He is author of the second edition of The Israel-Palestine Conflict: Contested Histories; Futile Diplomacy: A History of Arab-Israeli Negotiations, 1913-56; and Palestine Jewry and the Arab Question, 1917-1925. He is author (with Laura Zittrain Eisenberg) of both editions of Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace: Patterns, Problems, Possibilities (IUP, 1998, 2010) and editor (with Yaakov Sharett) of My Struggle for Peace: The Diary of Moshe Sharett, 1953–1956 (IUP, 2019).

Table of Contents

List of Maps
Preface to the Third Edition
List of Abbreviations
Introduction: Historical Patterns: Bad Habits Are Hard to Break
Part 1. The Arab-Israeli Peace Process:: Beginnings
1. Hot Wars and a Cold Peace: The Camp David Peace Process, 1977-1979
2. Mission Impossible: The 1983 Israel-Lebanon Agreement
3. Premature Peacemaking: The 1987 Hussein-Peres London Document
Part 2. The Arab-Israeli Peace Process: Madrid and After
4. Setting the Peace Table: The Madrid Conference, 1991
5. Out of the Shadows and into the Light: The Jordanian-Israeli Peace Process, 1993-1994
6. Falling Short of the Heights: Israel and Syria, 1991-2011
Part 3. The Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process
7. The Oslo Breakthrough, 1993-1996
8. Oslo Collapses, 1995-2000
9. Camp David II and Taba: Oslo's Last Chance, 2000-2001
10. Attempts to Salvage the Two-State Solution, 2001-2016
11. The Abraham Accords: Israel, Palestine and Arab-Israeli "Normalization" after 2020
Conclusion: A Perpetual Peace Process
Epilogue: The October 7, 2023 Hamas Attack and Israel's War against Hamas in Gaza
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Online Appendices

What People are Saying About This

Penn State University - Glenn Palmer

One of the best presentations of how the Middle East not only can be but should be approached from a theoretical perspective.

Philip Mattar

No matter where one stands on the issues, this valuable work commends itself to students, peace makers, and anyone concerned about the Arab-Israeli conflict and its peaceful resolution. -- Institute for Palestine Studies

Chatham University - Christina W. Michelmore

In separating the Arab-Israeli from the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, this second edition clarifies important differences in their nature, dyanmics, and degrees of intractability.

editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa - Philip Mattar

Nothing in my library comes close to Eisenberg and Caplan's unique and balanced treatment of the peace process. Their book is more essential today than when it was first published and contains many lessons that the parties could still benefit from.

Michael Brecher

This timely book. . .will be invaluable for students of Middle East international relations and for policy makers who seek a mutually acceptable resolution of this protracted conflict. -- McGill University

McGill University - Rex Brynen

As with the first edition, the second edition of Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace is extremely well-written. It covers the latest significant details in the negotiations and will be very useful as a resource for researchers and students alike.

D. Peretz

In this second edition, Eisenberg (history, Carnegie Mellon Univ.) and Caplan (history, Concordia Univ., Canada) begin (as in the first edition) with an account of early-19th-century Arab-Jewish negotiations. They end with President Obama's belief that his vision of Middle Eastern peace is compatible with Muslim concerns and interests. The history of these peace efforts, they claim, reveals seven reoccurring areas of diplomatic difficulty, such as previous experience in negotiating, psychological factors affecting leaders and followers, and the role of third-party involvement. Several peace efforts, beginning with the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt in 1978 through the 1993 Oslo Accords, are examined in detail by considering these seven areas of difficulty. The authors assert that past peace negotiations failed to take into account one or more of the seven characteristics. Original chapters were updated and reflect new information and scholarship since the first edition 12 years ago. The new edition includes a 38-page bibliography and 125 related documents available online and coordinated with the text. A series of illustrative political cartoons is integrated throughout the text. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers, undergraduate students, graduate students, and research faculty. — Choice

Editorial Reviews

The book is well written, without the usual political science jargon characteristic of books on similar topics. It is well researched and well documented with clear and useful maps.

Journal of Third World Studies

The book is clearly and objectively written . . . The strength of this book is its clear, systematic, and well-annotated analysis, pointing out which processes and frameworks were helpful and which harmful, coupled with the easy access to valuable primary sources. Fall 2011

Jewish Book World

One of the striking qualities of this book is the authors' ability to present a wide variety of views by referring to an extensive range of literature. Negotiating Arab–Israeli Peace is thus a highly nuanced account, providing a presentation of the various processes that is not only clear but also deeply analytical. If one were in need of a single book to cover Arab–Israeli diplomacy, this would be a good contender.

Journal of Peace Research

In an innovative study, two historians of the Arab-Israeli conflict reflect on what their craft can contribute to peacemaking.

Middle East Quarterly

[A] valuable addition to the literature on Arab-Israeli peace diplomacy. . . Kurtzer and Lasensky have a keen sense of what policymakers need to know about the mistakes of the past, and their recommendations are so sensible many have already been put in place by the Obama administration.Reading List 7/22/09

Foreign Affairs

A highly useful text for the study of the Arab-Israel conflict.

Jewish Book World / Jewish Book Council

For an introductory course, the text does a commendable job of presenting the cases and providing an interpretive framework.

Middle East Journal

The new edition includes a 38-page bibliography and 125 related documents available online and coordinated with the text. . . . Recommended.

Choice

[This] is a first-rate study that reflects the authors' familiarity with and understanding of Arab-Israeli relations spread over more than a century of conflict and diplomacy, their gift for presenting complex problems in clear prose, and the thoroughness of their research.

Middle East Book Review

"The new edition includes a 38-page bibliography and 125 related documents available online and coordinated with the text.... Recommended." — Choice

"In separating the Arab-Israeli from the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, this second edition clarifies important differences in their nature, dyanmics, and degrees of intractability." —Christina W. Michelmore, Chatham University

"In an innovative study, two historians of the Arab-Israeli conflict reflect on what their craft can contribute to peacemaking." —Middle East Quarterly, reviewing a previous edition or volume

"A highly useful text for the study of the Arab-Israel conflict." —Jewish Book World / Jewish Book Council, reviewing a previous edition or volume

"The book is well written, without the usual political science jargon characteristic of books on similar topics. It is well researched and well documented with clear and useful maps." —Journal of Third World Studies, reviewing a previous edition or volume

"For an introductory course, the text does a commendable job of presenting the cases and providing an interpretive framework." —Middle East Journal, reviewing a previous edition or volume

"One of the best presentations of how the Middle East not only can be but should be approached from a theoretical perspective." —Glenn Palmer, Penn State University

"As with the first edition, the second edition of Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace is extremely well-written. It covers the latest significant details in the negotiations and will be very useful as a resource for researchers and students alike." —Rex Brynen, McGill University

"Nothing in my library comes close to Eisenberg and Caplan's unique and balanced treatment of the peace process. Their book is more essential today than when it was first published and contains many lessons that the parties could still benefit from." —Philip Mattar, editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa

In this second edition, Eisenberg (history, Carnegie Mellon Univ.) and Caplan (history, Concordia Univ., Canada) begin (as in the first edition) with an account of early-19th-century Arab-Jewish negotiations. They end with President Obama's belief that his vision of Middle Eastern peace is compatible with Muslim concerns and interests. The history of these peace efforts, they claim, reveals seven reoccurring areas of diplomatic difficulty, such as previous experience in negotiating, psychological factors affecting leaders and followers, and the role of third-party involvement. Several peace efforts, beginning with the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt in 1978 through the 1993 Oslo Accords, are examined in detail by considering these seven areas of difficulty. The authors assert that past peace negotiations failed to take into account one or more of the seven characteristics. Original chapters were updated and reflect new information and scholarship since the first edition 12 years ago. The new edition includes a 38-page bibliography and 125 related documents available online and coordinated with the text. A series of illustrative political cartoons is integrated throughout the text. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers, undergraduate students, graduate students, and research faculty. — ChoiceD. Peretz, emeritus, SUNY at Binghamton, February 2011

From the Publisher

"Nothing in my library comes close to Eisenberg and Caplan's unique and balanced treatment of the peace process. Their book is more essential today than when it was first published and contains many lessons that the parties could still benefit from." —Philip Mattar, editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa

Philip Mattar

"One of the best presentations of how the Middle East not only can be but should be approached from a theoretical perspective." —Glenn Palmer, Penn State University

Glenn Palmer

"In separating the Arab-Israeli from the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, this second edition clarifies important differences in their nature, dyanmics, and degrees of intractability." —Christina W. Michelmore, Chatham University

Christina W. Michelmore

"As with the first edition, the second edition of Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace is extremely well-written. It covers the latest significant details in the negotiations and will be very useful as a resource for researchers and students alike." —Rex Brynen, McGill University

Rex Brynen

In this second edition, Eisenberg (history, Carnegie Mellon Univ.) and Caplan (history, Concordia Univ., Canada) begin (as in the first edition) with an account of early-19th-century Arab-Jewish negotiations. They end with President Obama's belief that his vision of Middle Eastern peace is compatible with Muslim concerns and interests. The history of these peace efforts, they claim, reveals seven reoccurring areas of diplomatic difficulty, such as previous experience in negotiating, psychological factors affecting leaders and followers, and the role of third-party involvement. Several peace efforts, beginning with the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt in 1978 through the 1993 Oslo Accords, are examined in detail by considering these seven areas of difficulty. The authors assert that past peace negotiations failed to take into account one or more of the seven characteristics. Original chapters were updated and reflect new information and scholarship since the first edition 12 years ago. The new edition includes a 38-page bibliography and 125 related documents available online and coordinated with the text. A series of illustrative political cartoons is integrated throughout the text. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers, undergraduate students, graduate students, and research faculty. -- ChoiceD. Peretz, emeritus, SUNY at Binghamton, February 2011

D. Peretz

"A highly useful text for the study of the Arab-Israel conflict." —Jewish Book World/Jewish Book Council, reviewing a previous edition or volume

Jewish Book World/Jewish Book Council