Product Description

This insightful collection of essays is a commentary on the last six years of the Middle East peace process, in which Edward Said has been virtually a lone voice in the West supporting the rights of the Palestinian people. Said questions the efficacy of Arafat's leadership, which has done nothing to stop illegal land expropriation and house demolitions; and regards the Oslo Accords as a false "breakthrough" for the Palestinians, as they include no mention of self-determination or sovereignty, or of an end to the expansion of Jewish settlements. But the author is not without hope: taken together, these essays comprise an eloquent, powerful vision of how peaceful reconciliation between Palestinian and Israeli can be taken forward.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #503361 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06-14
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 452 pages

Review
This collection of essays charts the progress, accomplishments and failures of the 1993 Oslo Accord in its attempts to bring about peace in the Middle East. The book brings together a string of impassioned articles written mainly for Arab newspapers in which Said argues that the process was doomed to failure from the start. Amongst the many reasons for this, he cites Israeli failure to confront and accept responsibility for its past atrocities and its refusal to relinquish territory to the Palestinians, encouraging instead the building of new settlements. Although Palestinian himself, Said is a non-aligned intellectual and is equally vehement in his criticism of the lame-duck Palestinian authority under the 'terrible' leadership of Yasir Arafat and the corrupt cronies with whom he surrounds himself. He pours scorn on their role in the negotiations, their willingness to make concessions in the face of meaningless Israeli declarations, which, far from advancing the Palestinian cause, have in fact hindered progress towards a free state. Nor do the other main players escape Said's scathing criticism as he analyses the personal and political agendas of Bill Clinton and the series of Israeli leaders who have been at the forefront of negotiations, most recently the 'homicidal' Ariel Sharon. This updated edition contains 16 new essays commenting on the Palestinian Intifada which began in September 2000 and the aftermath of the events of September 11 2001 and their implications not only for the Middle East but for the world order generally. Although as a series of unconnected journalistic articles, there is inevitably some repetition, readers will nevertheless be carried through the weight of material by the sheer passion with which Said argues his case and the eloquence with which he expresses it. (Kirkus UK)

About the Author
Edward W. Said is the pre-eminent spokesperson in the West for the rights of the Palestinian people. He is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Colombia University and the author of eighteen books.

Customer Reviews

From Oslo to Jenin
Said wrote this book when the "peace process" had a momentum that meant that anyone who so much as dared critisise Oslo and what followed, was labelled an extremist or militant, by the Israelis, the Americans and the Palestinian Authority, in unison.

Read the book now and you will see that Said's analysis of the Oslo agreement, why it was bound to fail and how it was likely to create a violent reaction is so spot-on that even if you are one who routinely disparages everything that Said does and everything he says, it is impossible to conclude anything other than that his reading of Oslo and where it would end was amazingly prescient.

If you want to understand how a "peace process" which was meant to offer so much to both Israelis and Palestinians could have ended in the slaughter at Jenin, read this book.