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176 SHOFAR Winter 1997 Vol. 15, No. 2 The Obstruction of Peace: The U.S., Israel, and the Palestinians, by Naseer Aruri. Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press, 1995. 370 pp. $18.95. It is enormously refreshing to read a book that challenges the conventional wisdom on the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. In The Obstruction of Peace, Professor Naseer Aruri compounds assiduous research, astute insights, and lucid analysis to demonstrate that the Oslo accords and their aftermath (Cairo I, Cairo II, Cairo III, etc.) have not been a breakthrough for a genuine, equitable, and lasting peace but simply a repackaging of old plans and proposals that circumvent, deter, and negate Palestinian independence and self-determination. Naseer Aruri is a Palestinian intellectual, a professor of political science at the University ofMassachusetts, a longtime activist with Amnesty International including lengthy service on its American board of directors, a writer, and an advocate for the cause of his people. He is, perhaps, the Elie Wiesel of the Palestinians but with a more universal approach to human suffering and human rights. Aruri does not apply one standard to the Palestinians and a different standard to others including Israel. By the same token, he expects that other peoples will be held to the same measure as is his. His concern with universal human rights makes Aruri unique in the Israeli-Palestinian political dialogue, though the Israeli scholar Han Peleg (see for instance Human Rights in the West Bank and Gaza: Legacy and Politics, Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1995) may provide an appropriate comparison. This book does not focus on human rights per se, but Aruri's passions in this regard are clearly evident. Here he is concerned with more fundamentally political questions and with demonstrating the multiple asymmetries and imbalances in the Israeli-Palestinian relationship, especially in the current effort to achieve peace. This he accomplishes by analyzing several issues induding: the U.S. role in the Middle East before and after the end of the Cold War with particular emphasis on the period since the Gulf War, the consensus and continuity that characterizes American policy in the region, the U.S.-Israeli relationship including Israel's special role as a "strategic asset," the function of U.S. domestic politics in American policy toward Israel and the Palestinians, the changing perspectives on Israel of regime elites in the Arab states, and the conflicts and crises in internal Palestinian politics. Of considerable utility is Aruri's placing ofthe current Israeli·Palestinian peace process within the historical context of U.S. foreign policy toward Israel and the Palestinians as well as .the region as a whole. Book Reviews 177 One ofAruri's major assertions is that, because of the intensely close historic alliance between the U.S. and Israel, the U.S. is not and cannot be an "honest broker" in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Of the many convincing arguments used to demonstrate this thesis, a particularly notable one is his analysis of the U.S.-engineered demise of the internationally backed plan for resolution of the conflict, Le., a comprehensive settlement under international auspices (opposed by Israel), in favor of a U.S.-supervised process of separate, bi-Iateral agreements (favored by Israel). Whatever one thinks about Israel and its peace policies, this is a clear example of the U.S. bowing to Israel's wishes and ignoring the opinion of virtually the entire international community, especially the Palestinians and the Arab states. The point is illustrated repeatedly throughout the text; however, if additional information is required, Hanan Ashrawi's This Side of Peace: A Personal Account (Simon & Schuster, 1995) is highly recommended. Her narrative (minus personal reminiscences ) of dealing with the Americans at Madrid and after is most illuminating. Aruri's careful reading and analysis of the Oslo and subsequent agreements is the most satisfying portion of the book. Partly because such analysis is rarely made in mainstream scholarship (though one is reminded ofJoel Singer's excellent piece, "The Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements: Some Legal Aspects," Justice (February 1994), pp. 4-13), but more because, after independent reflection, Aruri is so obviously, and painfully, correct. He terms it "repackaging the...

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