Arafat's War

Arafat's War PDF Author: Efraim Karsh
Publisher: Open Road + Grove/Atlantic
ISBN: 1555846602
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 436

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Book Description
A noted historian analyzes Yasser Arafat’s role in destabilizing the Middle East in a book praised as “eye-opening and exhaustively researched” (New York Post). Offering the first comprehensive account of the collapse of the most promising peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, historian Efraim Karsh details Arafat’s efforts since the historic Oslo Accords in building an extensive terrorist infrastructure, his failure to disarm the extremist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and the Palestinian Authority’s systematic efforts to indoctrinate hate and contempt for the Israeli people through rumor and religious zealotry. Arafat has irrevocably altered the Middle East’s political landscape, and the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict will always be Arafat’s war.

Arafat's War

Arafat's War PDF Author: Efraim Karsh
Publisher: Open Road + Grove/Atlantic
ISBN: 1555846602
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 436

Get Book Here

Book Description
A noted historian analyzes Yasser Arafat’s role in destabilizing the Middle East in a book praised as “eye-opening and exhaustively researched” (New York Post). Offering the first comprehensive account of the collapse of the most promising peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, historian Efraim Karsh details Arafat’s efforts since the historic Oslo Accords in building an extensive terrorist infrastructure, his failure to disarm the extremist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and the Palestinian Authority’s systematic efforts to indoctrinate hate and contempt for the Israeli people through rumor and religious zealotry. Arafat has irrevocably altered the Middle East’s political landscape, and the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict will always be Arafat’s war.

Arafat and Abbas

Arafat and Abbas PDF Author: Menachem Klein
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0190087587
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
This landmark volume presents vivid and intimate portraits of Palestinian Presidents Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas, revealing the impact these different personalities have had on the struggle for national self-determination. Arafat and Abbas lived in Palestine as young children. Uprooted by the 1948 war, they returned in 1994 to serve as the first and second presidents of the Palestinian Authority, the establishment of which has been the Palestine Liberation Organization's greatest step towards self-determination for the Palestinian nation. Both Arafat and Abbas were shaped by earlier careers in the PLO, and each adopted their own controversial leadership methods and decision-making styles. Drawing on primary sources in Arabic, Hebrew and English, Klein gives special attention to the lesser known Abbas: his beliefs and his disagreements with Israeli and American counterparts. The book uncovers new details about Abbas' peace talks and US foreign policy towards Palestine, and analyses the political evolution of Hamas and Abbas' succession struggle. Klein also highlights the tension between the ageing leader and his society. Arafat and Abbas offers a comprehensive and balanced account of the Palestinian Authority's achievements and failures over its twenty- five years of existence. What emerges is a Palestinian nationalism that refuses to disappear.

Arafat and the Dream of Palestine

Arafat and the Dream of Palestine PDF Author: Bassam Abu Sharif
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 0230621295
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
Abu Sharif was one of the world's most notorious and dangerous terrorists in the 60's and 70's, acting as "minister of propaganda" for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and as a recruiter for terrorists like Carlos the Jackal. In 1972, a bomb was placed in a book and sent to him, leaving him half-blind, deaf in one ear, and almost fingerless. Finally abandoning the use of violence as a means to achieve his Palestinian nationalist aspirations, he aligned himself with Yasser Arafat, eventually becoming one of his closest advisors. In this book, Abu Sharif, often alongside Arafat, takes us behind the scenes of all the major events in the Middle East during the last 30 years, from the secret caves in the West Bank where Arafat hid on his way to Jerusalem in 1967 to the peace negotiations in Oslo in 1993. Arafat and the Dream of Palestine combines a deeply personal account, informed by Abu Sharif's close relationship with Arafat, with a gripping, profoundly human history of Palestine.

Palestinian Politics After Arafat

Palestinian Politics After Arafat PDF Author: Asʻad Ganim
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253221609
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 222

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Book Description
Here, the author analyzes the internal and external events that unfolded as the Palestinian national movement became a 'failed national movement', marked by internecine struggle and collapse, the failure to secure establishment of a separate state, and much more.

State of Failure

State of Failure PDF Author: Jonathan Schanzer
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1137365641
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
The biggest obstacle to Palestinian statehood may not be Israel In September 2011, president Mahmoud Abbas stood before the United Nations General Assembly and dramatically announced his intention to achieve recognition of Palestinian statehood. The United States roundly opposed the move then, but two years later, Washington revived dreams for Palestinian statehood through bilateral diplomacy with Israel. But are the Palestinians prepared for the next step? In State of Failure, Middle East expert Jonathan Schanzer argues that the reasons behind Palestine's inertia are far more complex than we realize. Despite broad international support, Palestinian independence is stalling because of internal mismanagement, not necessarily because of Israeli intransigence. Drawing on exclusive sources, the author shows how the PLO under Yasser Arafat was ill prepared for the task of statebuilding. Arafat's successor, Mahmoud Abbas, used President George W. Bush's support to catapult himself into the presidency. But the aging leader, now four years past the end of his elected term, has not only failed to implement much needed reforms but huge sums of international aid continue to be squandered, and the Palestinian people stand to lose everything as a result. Supporters of Palestine and Israel alike will find Schanzer's narrative compelling at this critical juncture in Middle Eastern politics.

Yasser Arafat

Yasser Arafat PDF Author: Bernadette Brexel
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 9780823944699
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 120

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Book Description
Examines the life and leadership skills of Palestinian National Authority president Yasser Arafat, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to establish peace in the Middle East.

Arafat

Arafat PDF Author: Tony Walker
Publisher: Virgin Books Limited
ISBN: 9781852279240
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 526

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Book Description
First published in 1993.

Arafat, the Palestinians and Israel

Arafat, the Palestinians and Israel PDF Author: David Bukay
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781845190118
Category : Arab-Israeli conflict
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
Yasser Arafat is undoubtedly the most resilient politician in the Middle East. He has been at the crossroads of international and political terror for the past 40 years. This book brings to light the many masks of Arafat, and shows that he is as much a terrorist as a negotiator; as much a warmonger as a leader of the Palestinian people. Contrary to Arafat's belief that his long-term strategy of lies, confusion, and violence strengthens the case for the return of the Palestinians to Palestine, his actions have only had a negative effect in the Middle East. Hamas and Islamic Jihad are out of control, and abroad Arafat is blamed for the collapse in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. There is a political approach in Israel and the West that claims that Arafat has no clear strategic plan and misses historic opportunities for his people. For David Bukay this political approach is culturally flawed: it expresses the 'problem' in Western terms, without considering the Arab political reality, namely that violent determination will bring about Israeli flight from the Territories, that time is irrelevant to this goal, and that political agreements are there to be broken in order to disrupt a final political solution. The political paradox is threefold: (1) Most Middle East countries would like to see Arafat step down, but they fear that his demise may create deep instability on the 'Arab street' and therefore grant him immunity; (2) By actively promoting the 'peace camp' in Israel, Arafat hinders a political resolution with the Palestinians; and (3) By financing indiscriminate terrorism in the Territories he alienates the world from Palestinian rights and aspirations. The author shows that Arafat's personality is shaped by the politics of paranoia and paradox. A character study of his attitude and motivation toward the Palestinian people, other Arab states, Israel, and in the international arena, reveals a deluded leader, suspicious and determined to maintain his authority; a leader whose grandiose style demonstrates a conservative, closed way of thinking. Arafat's persona is most clearly expressed in his negotiations management. The signing of the Oslo Accords encouraged acts of terror that, paradoxically, resulted in extra land being granted to the Palestinian Authority. While some argue that Arafat missed an opportunity for lasting peace at Oslo and at Camp David, the fact is that Arafat took another step toward his ultimate goal -- the destruction of the State of Israel. It is an aim he has never lost sight of, even if the West has. Contents: Introduction: Who Is Yasser Arafat?; Palestine -- The Land and the People; Arafat -- The Personality, the Leadership, and the Myth; Personality: The Politics of Paranoia; Leadership: The Politics of Patrimonialism; Arafat and Israel -- Ideological and Political Perspectives; Arafat and Israel -- The Politics of Terrorism; Arafat's Terrorism in Practice; Arafat's Instruments of Terrorism; Epilogue: Israel, Oslo, and Arafat.

Yasir Arafat

Yasir Arafat PDF Author: Barry Rubin
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019029275X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 395

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Book Description
Yasir Arafat stands as one of the most resilient, recognizable and controversial political figures of modern times. The object of unrelenting suspicion, steady admiration and endless speculation, Arafat has occupied the center stage of Middle East politics for almost four decades. Yasir Arafat is the most comprehensive political biography of this remarkable man. Forged in a tumultuous era of competing traditionalism, radicalism, Arab nationalism, and Islamist forces, the Palestinian movement was almost entirely Arafat's creation, and he became its leader at an early age. Arafat took it through a dizzying series of crises and defeats, often of his own making, yet also ensured that it survived, grew, and gained influence. Disavowing terrorism repeatedly, he also practiced it constantly. Arafat's elusive behavior ensured that radical regimes saw in him a comrade in arms, while moderates backed him as a potential partner in peace. After years of devotion to armed struggle, Arafat made a dramatic agreement with Israel that let him return to his claimed homeland and transformed him into a legitimized ruler. Yet at the moment of decision at the Camp David summit and afterward, when he could have achieved peace and a Palestinian state, he sacrificed the prize he had supposedly sought for the struggle he could not live without. Richly populated with the main events and dominant leaders of the Middle East, this detailed and analytical account by Barry Rubin and Judith Colp Rubin follows Arafat as he moves to Kuwait, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia, and finally to Palestinian-ruled soil. It shows him as he rewrites his origins, experiments with guerrilla war, develops a doctrine of terrorism, fights endless diplomatic battles, and builds a movement, constantly juggling states, factions, and world leaders. Whole generations and a half-dozen U.S. presidents have come and gone over the long course of Arafat's career. But Arafat has outlasted them all, spanning entire eras, with three constants always present: he has always survived, he has constantly seemed imperiled, and he has never achieved his goals. While there has been no substitute for Arafat, the authors conclude, Arafat has been no substitute for a leader who could make peace.

Blind Spot

Blind Spot PDF Author: Khaled Elgindy
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 0815731566
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
A critical examination of the history of US-Palestinian relations The United States has invested billions of dollars and countless diplomatic hours in the pursuit of Israeli-Palestinian peace and a two-state solution. Yet American attempts to broker an end to the conflict have repeatedly come up short. At the center of these failures lay two critical factors: Israeli power and Palestinian politics. While both Israelis and Palestinians undoubtedly share much of the blame, one also cannot escape the role of the United States, as the sole mediator in the process, in these repeated failures. American peacemaking efforts ultimately ran aground as a result of Washington’s unwillingness to confront Israel’s ever-deepening occupation or to come to grips with the realities of internal Palestinian politics. In particular, the book looks at the interplay between the U.S.-led peace process and internal Palestinian politics—namely, how a badly flawed peace process helped to weaken Palestinian leaders and institutions and how an increasingly dysfunctional Palestinian leadership, in turn, hindered prospects for a diplomatic resolution. Thus, while the peace process was not necessarily doomed to fail, Washington’s management of the process, with its built-in blind spot to Israeli power and Palestinian politics, made failure far more likely than a negotiated breakthrough. Shaped by the pressures of American domestic politics and the special relationship with Israel, Washington’s distinctive “blind spot” to Israeli power and Palestinian politics has deep historical roots, dating back to the 1917 Balfour Declaration and the British Mandate. The size of the blind spot has varied over the years and from one administration to another, but it is always present.