At the outset of the 1949 armistice negotiations between Israel and its Arab neighbours, acting UN mediator Ralph Bunche expressed his hope that the talks would
chart the road to a peace for Palestine , an outcome apparently as elusive today as it was 40 years ago. Perhaps the most significant aspect of this analysis of those negotiations is its relevance to today’s headlines. Relating the proposals and counterproposals, the conspiracies and power plays, to present-day Israeli and Middle East policies, Berger suggests that the basic negotiating strategies of the main players have persisted almost unchanged into the present, a
near rigidity
that has defeated all efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East’s central conflict. Berger is a rabbi, an avowed anti-Zionist who offers an examination of highly flammable issues and events with objectivity, insight, and rigorous scholarship. Drawing upon newly released material from official Israeli and US archives, Berger strives to paint both the large picture and the telling detail - the frustrations of the conscientious and highly respected Bunche, the pathetically unprepared Arab negotiators, the well-informed Israeli diplomats, the intrigue of the Israel-TransJordan alliance. This work aims to serve observers of the prolonged conflict over Palestine with a guide to applicable international law, and to the attitudes and negotiating policies of the countries involved.