The American Search For Mideast Peace

(Hardback)

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The American Search for Mideast Peace synthesizes and interprets a large amount of information gleaned from personal accounts, partisan critiques, government documents, and the public record to portray and explain the current state of the U.S. search for Mideast peace. This analytical volume distills the events which have taken place during the past two decades. It begins by identifying the hope for Middle East peace that gripped Washington in 1967 and proceeds via an examination of steps that cumulatively undermined that goal. Tschirgi concludes that both the normative and structural aspects of peace as envisaged by Washington in 1967 are now probably beyond attainment. Throughout the text, Tschirgi focuses on various strategies of decision-making employed by the United States. He thoroughly analyzes Washington's approach to peacemaking and seeks to uncover the political dynamics arising from and affecting the context of American policymaking. Students and scholars specializing in Middle East politics, as well as the general reader will find The American Search for Mideast Peace both informative and fascinating. The American Search for Mideast Peace is divided into five well-defined chapters. Chapter One examines the Johnson administration, and presents both a background to U.S. involvement with the Palestine issue prior to 1967 and an overview of developments after that date. The next four chapters examine chronologically, in full detail, the various approaches taken by the administrations of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan in the Middle East. In the final chapter, Tschirgi deals with the underlying dynamics that have shaped two decades off an American search for Mideast peace and examines their implications for the future.

Reviews

Tschirgi has written a commendably balanced account of America's quest for solutions in the Arab-Israeli conflict. The focus is on the critical two decades that began with the 1967 war, a period when the US became increasingly enmeshed in the conflict and its resolution. No dramatic revelations are offered, but Tschirgi has skillfully sifted through a veritable mountain of materials to produce a capable synthesis. The Middle East of the late 1980s is described as poised in a tense stalemate induced, in part, by wavering and reactive US policies. The stalemate is more likely to be broken by crisis than by American peacemaking.-Choice
"Tschirgi has written a commendably balanced account of America's quest for solutions in the Arab-Israeli conflict. The focus is on the critical two decades that began with the 1967 war, a period when the US became increasingly enmeshed in the conflict and its resolution. No dramatic revelations are offered, but Tschirgi has skillfully sifted through a veritable mountain of materials to produce a capable synthesis. The Middle East of the late 1980s is described as poised in a tense stalemate induced, in part, by wavering and reactive US policies. The stalemate is more likely to be broken by crisis than by American peacemaking."-Choice

Author Bio

DAN TSCHIRGI is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the American University in Cairo. He has published various articles in his field and is the author of The Politics of Indecision: Origins and Implications of American Involvement with the Palestine Problem.