The Arab-Israeli Search for Peace (review)

Book Reviews 143 Again, Oren's study is an objective, thoroughly scholarly, and carefully researched work. While probably mainly of interest to academicians specialiZing or particularly interested in detailed material on the ArabIsraeli conflict, it is a significant contribution to the field and deserves to be in college and university libraries that have holdings on the subject. Scott D. Johnston Department of Political Science Hamline University The Arab-Israeli Search for Peace,edited by Steven L. Spiegel. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1992. 197 pp. $10.95 (p). This collection of essays examines various aspects of the Arab-Israeli peace process. The authors are a mixed group, including Israelis, Palestinians, other Arabs, Americans, Canadians, and Europeans; most are academics. The fact that some of the chapters are exceedingly short and in many cases citations of sources are minimal creates the impression that they were prepared for a conference, but this does not appear to have been the case. In any event, the overall tone of the book is one of policy prescription rather than academic analysis. According to the editor, these essays are intended to concentrate on "contributions that can be made by the regional parties and outside actors to create conditions favoring peace in the Middle East" (p. 4). The three parts into which the book is divided deal respectively with: 1) prenegotiation factors, including Palestinian and Israeli perspectives, as well as analyses of the negotiating process itself; 2) potential economic cooperation among the conflicting parties; and 3) the problem of arms control. The fourteen substantive chapters vary somewhat in quality, as is often the case in multi-authored works. There is also a certain repetitive quality in the contributions that deal with economic cooperation. Of necessity, these chapters deal with such basic problems as water supplies, trade relations, and capital flows. Significantly, some of these issues are the subject of individual working groups which have been established in the ongoing peace process which began at Madrid in October 1991. Finally, the third part of the book underlines the problem of creating an atmosphere of sufficient mutual trust to permit any kind of arms control at all. In these discussions, emphasis falls on the problem of balancing the putative Israeli nuclear arsenal against the stockpile of poison gas and 144 SHOFAR Winter 1994 Vol. 12, No.2 biological weapons which some of the Arab states are trying or threatening to accumulate, as well as possible acquisition of nuclear arms by such renegade states as Iraq and Iran. One of the inevitable vulnerabilities of books on the contemporary Middle East is the danger of rapid obsolescence. Unfortunately, this book in some respects falls victim to this danger. This is especially true of the first section, dealing with conditions leading to negotiations. Repeatedly, several of the authors criticize what they perceive to be the Israeli government's rigidity, especially with regard to settlements in the administered territories. The problem here is obvious: the government in question was turned out of office by the Israeli voters in June of 1992. The government in power at this writing (early May 1993) has assumed a very different posture on this issue, as well as on other critical matters which are cited as obstacles to peace in this book. It is, of course, entirely possible that this government might fall, either because of a breakup of the existing coalition alignment, or possibly (though not likely) new elections, and that a new government might revert to the more hawkish stance of the Shamir government. But given the Clinton Administration's commitment to an active role, and the power of the purse which the United States can still exercise despite budgetary stringency at home, an outburst of Israeli stonewalling seems highly implausible. Notable in this connection is Galia Golan's citation here of opinion polls which showed that a significant majority of pro-likud voters (59%) favored freezing of settlement activity in the territories, and that a majority of likud Party central committee members favored territorial concessions in exchange for peace. Other opinion studies confirm these findings and suggest that the outcome of the 1992 election should not be regarded as surprising. These polls also imply that, despite...