The Peace Puzzle: America's Quest for Arab-Israeli Peace, 1989–2011

by Daniel C. Kurtzer

Each phase of Arab-Israeli peacemaking has been inordinately difficult in its own right, and every critical juncture and decision point in the long process has been shaped by U.S. politics and the U.S. leaders of the moment. The Peace Puzzle tracks the American determination to articulate policy, develop strategy and tactics, and see through negotiations to agreements on an issue that has been of singular importance to U.S. interests for more than forty years. In 2006, the authors of The Peace Puzzle formed the Study Group on Arab-Israeli Peacemaking, a project supported by the United States Institute of Peace, to develop a set of "best practices" for American diplomacy. The Study Group conducted in-depth interviews with more than 120 policymakers, diplomats, academics, and civil society figures and developed performance assessments of the various U.S. administrations of the post–Cold War period. This book, an objective account of the role of the United States in attempting to achieve a lasting Arab–Israeli peace, is informed by the authors’ access to key individuals and official archives.

Genres: Israel, Middle East, Nonfiction, History, War, Politics

352 pages, Hardcover

First published November 20, 2012

Reviews

[Jaime Vázquez · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an incredibly informative read and mostly enjoyable, although at times, the book felt like it was written as a grad school report. Nonetheless, many of us concerned with the mass suffering in Gaza are searching for threads everywhere to understand how we’ve arrived at the status quo. From a diplomatic perspective, I feel better informed about the handful of successes and litany of failures in American Diplomacy regarding Israel-Palestine.

While this history ends before Obama’s re-election campaign, I feel confident in tracing it to Trump and can better understand how his and his son-in-law’s pivots in I-P policy (Jerusalem and Abraham Accords) have only made the soil less fertile for positive peace.

Additionally, this book effectively traces the Democratic Party’s history with Israel. Despite Biden's efforts to counter the economically neoliberal agenda of his Democratic counterparts, Obama and Clinton, what remains the same is the Blue Dog Democrats' approach to coddling Israel at the negotiation table. My fellow progressive/liberal friends may or may not be shocked to know that at times, even the Bushes were tougher on Israel than Clinton, Obama, or Biden — the latter two of whom have been severely disrespected by Netanyahu in a myriad of ways.

The authors do an effective job of outlining the history of the peace process, and most of their recommendations for what diplomats can do better are spot on. Where I was a tad bit disappointed was in the lack of interrogation or uplifting of how the U.S. could’ve better utilized its leverage on Israel to finalize the details in prior peace processes.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm rating this book because it technically isn't mandatory reading and was instead recommended to me by the TF.
I REALLY liked this book. The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict is something that we should all know about (and most of us do, to some extent) but the authors of this book take it up a notch and do a step-by-step analysis of the conflict and the role the United States has played within the conflict. I learned a lot about the conflict, the various components to it, the factions involved, and the internal politics of Israel and Palestine itself. If you're someone who's interested in learning more about the relations between Israel and Palestine (with a focus on the US's role), I'd highly recommend it, especially since the writing is super accessible and not dry at all.

[Daniel Jadallah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helpful in understanding the process of negotiations between Israel and Palestinian leadership since 1989, with an emphasis on the facilitative US role. Indirectly provides a pretty good chronology of political developments within and between Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel during this time period. This shouldn’t be the first or even second book you read on the conflict, but it is a good one.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent read for anyone interested in US engagement in the quest for peace between Israel and the Arab world since the presidency of George HW Bush. A clear, easy read, heavily documented.

[Jonathan Sweedler]

From Ezra Klein 11/21/23 - Aaron David Miller - The best primer I've heard on Israeli-Palestinian Peace Efforts

[GONZA · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a long summary of all the peace talks the U.S. tried to solve the Arab-Israeli situation in Gaza and Palestine. Interesting enough but still I wanted something different, I was waiting to read some ideas for the future, what is supposed to happen now, but of course, the situation after Obama reelections is changing and I'd like to have the crystal ball to see in the future, or maybe it's better that I don't.

Questo libro è un lungo riassunto di tutte le trattative di pace portate avanti dagli Stati Uniti, ed a volte dalle Nazioni Unite, per cercare di risolvere l'empasse della situazione israelo-palestinese. Abbastanza interessante, ma mi sarebbe piaciuto qualcosa di diverso, mi aspettavo di leggere qualche progetto futuro, quello che sarebbe successo d'ora in poi, ma ovviamente la situazione dopo la rielezione di Obama è in perenne cambiamento e ci vorrebbe una sfera di cristallo per prevedere il futuro, anzi, meglio di no.

THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS FOR THE PREVIEW

[Skip · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will update a little later, after more reading. For now, I have to say that this is an excellent book giving the background on the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, starting back in the late Reagan Administration, and deeply into the George H.W. Bush administration. It is amazing the amount of strong leadership President Bush gave to this process, although, he was subsequently accused by Clinton as being too pro-Palestinian. Well, hard to say.

But, it is critical, in this era of renewed peace talks --or talks about the talks, to get some history on what has already been tried. Kurtzer is the former U.S. Ambassador to both Egypt at one point, and to Israel. He seems to have a tremendous grasp of the information and lays out the historical narrative quite well.

In light of the current peace talks, it is critical that we become more aware of what is happening over there.

thanks

Skip Cornett
Columbus, OH

[Samrat Sen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Detailed scholarly Insights and analysis of failure of US diplomacy in solving this crisis since the 1990s.