Obstacle to Peace: The US Role in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

by Jeremy R. Hammond, Richard Falk (Foreword by), Gene Epstein (Introduction)

Overview

Why has peace in the Middle East remained so elusive?

Obstacle to Peace: The US Role in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict provides the answer while also explaining why you won’t hear it from U.S. government officials or the mainstream media.

With incisive and provocative analysis, Jeremy R. Hammond provides a meticulously documented account that explodes popular myths and deconstructs standard narratives about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

For anyone seeking a better understanding of the conflict’s root causes, the true reasons for its persistence, and the way forward, Obstacle to Peace delivers the knowledge and insights to effect the paradigm shift that is necessary for a just peace to be achieved.

"carefully documented and highly informative" – Noam Chomsky

In Obstacle to Peace, you'll learn: 

• How US and Israeli policies have strengthened Hamas 
• Why Israel implemented an illegal policy of collectively punishing the civilian population of Gaza, and how it's been able to do so with impunity 
• What really happened during Operation Cast Lead and Operation Pillar of Defense, two of Israel's large-scale military assaults on the defenseless Gaza Strip 
• What the so-called "peace process" is and why the US pursues it so aggressively 
• Why Israel attacked the Mavi Marmara in international waters, and why the US defended the killing of nine peace activists on board 
• How Israel has maintained its occupation of Palestine and what must happen to bring it to an end 
• What must occur for Palestinian refugees to have a realistic hope of exercising their right to return to their homeland 
• How and why the US mainstream media manipulate information so as to manufacture consent for US foreign policy 
• How to decipher the euphemistic language used by the government and media to deceive the public 
• How the United Nations helped create the conflict and how Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has played a duplicitous role 
• What the Goldstone Report was, what its findings were, and why it so upset the US and Israel 
• How, despite congenial rhetoric to the contrary, the Obama administration has continued the longstanding US policy of rejecting the rights of the Palestinian people 
• And much more! 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780996105835
Publisher:	Worldview Publications
Publication date:	05/01/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	538
Sales rank:	869,669
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Jeremy R. Hammond is an independent political analyst and publisher and editor of Foreign Policy Journal (www.foreignpolicyjournal.com). In 2009, he received the Project Censored Award for Outstanding Investigative Journalism for his coverage of the US's support for Israel's 22-day full-scale military assault on the Gaza Strip, "Operation Cast Lead" (Dec. 27, 2008-Jan. 18, 2009) He is the author of The Rejection of Palestinian Self-Determination: The Struggle for Palestine and the Roots of the Israeli-Arab Conflict and Ron Paul vs. Paul Krugman: Austrian vs. Keynesian Economics in the Financial Crisis. Find him on the web at JeremyRHammond.com.
Richard Falk is a former UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.
Gene Epstein is Economics and Books Editor at Barron's, the financial weekly.

Table of Contents

FOREWORD

PREFACE

1. THE RISE OF HAMAS IN GAZA

UN General Assembly Resolution 181

The Threat of Peace

The Political Ascension of Hamas

'Operation Summer Rains'

The Hamas 'Coup' in Gaza

The 2008 Ceasefire

Senator Obama's 'Unshakeable Commitment' to Israel

The Collapse of the Ceasefire

2. 'OPERATION CAST LEAD'

Hasbara

Israel's Rejection of a Ceasefire

Defending Israel's War Crimes

The US's Rejection of a Ceasefire

'No Humanitarian Crisis'

'They Are Doing Good'

Israel Ignores a UN Ceasefire Resolution

It's 'Hard' for Israel Not to Kill Civilians

The 'Education' of Hamas

3. THE 'PEACE PROCESS'

Resolution 242

Resolution 194

The Oslo Accords

Camp David

Taba

The Road Map

Sharon's 'Disengagement Plan'

Annapolis

4. OBAMA'S 'NEW BEGINNING'

American and Israeli Exceptionalism

'The Most Moral Army in the World'

US Policy on Israel's Settlements

The Cairo and Bar-Ilan Speeches

Punishing Gaza

US Aid to Israel

5. THE GOLDSTONE REPORT

The Report of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict

The Response from the US and Israel

Attacking the Messenger

A Case Study in Congressional Hypocrisy

The 'Illegal but Legitimate' Doctrine

'An Evil, Evil Man'

6. 'SERIOUS ABOUT PEACE'

The Settlement 'Freeze'

Negotiations 'Without Preconditions'

Leading Palestinians to Certain Conclusions

Israel's 'Cast Lead' Self-Exoneration: Update

A 'Hiccup' in US-Israeli Relations

Getting 'Tough' on Israel

7. MURDER ON THE HIGH SEAS

Israel's 'Passionate Defenders'

Israel's Legal Argument

A 'Good Deal' for Gaza

Israel's 'Cast Lead' Self-Exoneration: Second Update

The Report of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on the Flotilla Attack

The Turkel Commission: Another Israeli 'Whitewash'

8. THE 'SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP'

Rewarding Israel for Violating International Law

Obama's 'Diplomatic Bind'

Fatah-Hamas Reconciliation: 'A Formula for War'

Goldstone's Betrayal

'The 1967 Lines'

Obama Speaks to AIPAC

Mr. Netanyahu Goes to Washington

Freedom Flotilla II

9. THE STATEHOOD 'PLOY'

'Defensible Borders'

The 'Jewish' and 'Democratic' State of Israel

The Bias of the New York Times

Israel Seeks a 'Moral Minority'

The Palmer Report

Averting the 'Sideshow' at the UN

Israel's Benevolent Occupation

10. THE QUESTION OF PALESTINE

Championing the Status Quo

Palestine's Application for UN Membership

A 'Theatre of the Absurd'

Palestine's UNESCO Membership

'A Lost Year'

At the UN General Debate

Operation 'Pillar of Defense'

A Historic Vote

CONCLUSION

NOTES

Editorial Reviews

"Jeremy Hammond's carefully documented and highly informative study of how Washington has joined Israel in undermining the efforts to achieve a peaceful political settlement of the Israel-Palestine conflict is a welcome and timely contribution, and one that focuses directly on a salient issue, all too often evaded." - Noam Chomsky, Author of Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel, and the Palestinians

"This important book documents Washington's complicity in, and coverup of, Israel's theft of Palestine." - Paul Craig Roberts, Former Editor of the Wall Street Journal

"Successive American administrations from both parties have doomed Palestinians to a series of Bantustans in the West Bank and what amounts to an open air prison in the Gaza Strip. In turn, Washington has emboldened right-wing forces in Israel, plunging the country into a zero-sum game with no clear resolution in sight. Over the course of a book that is as meticulously detailed as it is readable, Jeremy Hammond explains how the US approach he correctly identifies as rejectionist is closing the door on peace in the Holy Land. We must learn the historical lessons Hammond outlines in Obstacle to Peace before that door is nailed shut for good." - Max Blumenthal, Author of Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel

"Jeremy Hammond is a fearless independent journalist who does not allow hypocrisy and maneuvers to escape his critical eye. His book Obstacle to Peace: The US Role in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict is a sharp analysis of America's Middle East policy which shields Israel's crimes against Palestinians. This book should be read by anyone interested in knowing about the agony of Palestinians." - Deepak Tripathi, Author of Imperial Designs: War, Humiliation and the Making of History

"I read Obstacle to Peace with great interest. Hammond is a knowledgeable and insightful writer. His analysis is sharp and original, refusing to allow mythology to supersede reality. We often discuss Israel-Palestine with too little attention to the central role of US policy. This book illustrates why such an omission is a terrible mistake." - Steven Salaita, Author of The Holy Land in Transit: Colonialism and the Quest for Canaan

"Outstanding. This highly informative and meticulously researched book is a valuable resource for every scholar and activist. The flair with which the book has been written makes it accessible to those who are not as familiar with the Israel-Palestinian issue but who are eager to perfect their knowledge. Hammond's illuminating and invaluable book deserves a wide audience." - Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich, Independent Foreign Policy Analyst

"In Obstacle to Peace, Mr. Hammond provides a meticulously documented and compelling narrative of the long running Israel-Palestine conflict and the role that the United States has played in thwarting potential solutions. This work not only tells the story but also provides a valuable research vehicle for policy makers and commentators alike. It is a must for every bookshelf on this topic." - Donald Liebich, Author of Fault Lines: The Layman's Guide to Understanding America's Role in the Ever-Changing Middle East

"When I first came to Palestine in 2003, I was naïve in many ways and had to start from the beginning. My previous work in South Africa helped to open up my eyes and see the deepening of apartheid in the Middle East, but what was missing was a book like Obstacle to Peace. The book is a bridge to a real peace process, unlike the vacuous diplomacy that continues while the colonization and theft does not stop and the apartheid is manifested. Obstacle to Peace helps those of us concerned with peace and justice to be firmly rooted when we speak out." - Mats Svensson, Former Swedish Diplomat and Author of Crimes, Victims and Witnesses: Apartheid in Palestine

From the Publisher