Synopsis
After decades of branding Yasser Arafat an arch-terrorist, Israel has embraced the PLO leader as a partner for peace. In this study of one of the most extraordinary examples of secret diplomacy in the second half of the twentieth century, David Makovsky, diplomatic correspondent for the Jerusalem Post, explores the personal, domestic, regional, and international factors that led Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, and other top aides to negotiate the peace accords.Makovsky traces key episodes prior to the breakthrough in Oslo—including Israel's deportation of radical Islamic activists in December 1992 and its retaliation against Hizbollah rocket attacks from south Lebanon in July 1993—and examines their impact on the fateful decisions that led to the remarkable diplomatic achievement. Working from exclusive interviews with dozens of Israeli, Palestinian, American, and Egyptian officials, Makovsky depicts in fascinating detail the intricacies of the Israel-PLO bargaining. He also examines lessons learned about Israeli decisionmaking from the Oslo experience and assesses the influence of the peace treaty between Israel and Jordan on the implementation of the Israel-PLO accord.
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About the Author
David Makovsky is the diplomatic correspondent for the Jerusalem Post and a special correspondent for U.S. News and World Report. He was the 1994 corecipient of the National Press Club's Edwin M. Hood Award for Diplomatic Correspondence.
Reviews
This clear, concise explication of the complicated diplomatic process that preceded that famous 1993 White House Lawn handshake would be impressive under any circumstances, but it is particularly enlightening now. Makovsky, the diplomatic correspondent for the Jerusalem Post, puts Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat into domestic and international context. Started secretly under the aegis of a Norwegian academic in early 1992, the Oslo talks moved at an impressive speed. Rabin was clearly aware of a window of opportunity defined in part by the Gulf war, which left the PLO weakened (Arafat had backed Iraq, to the chagrin of other Arab states), and in part by the June 1992 election, which, for the first time in 15 years, freed Rabin's Labor Party from the conservative Likud. Convinced that an agreement with the PLO was beneficial to Israel's long-term security and that the Norwegian track was a valid avenue, Rabin stayed the course. Even when an unrelated scandal threatened his administration, rather than stop the potentially damaging negotiations, Rabin formally raised the idea of mutual recognition in order to speed them along. Although publication was too far along to allow for changes after Rabin's assassination, Makovsky makes clear the importance of both Rabin and Peres in this negotiation. "It's a testament to Israel's highly personalized decision-making process that so few could make such a momentous decision for so many, essentially short-circuiting top-level security institutions-and more critically-with virtually no cabinet debate."
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Makovsky, a respected Israeli journalist, delves into the inner workings of the Israeli government from December 1992 to August 1993, when it secretly negotiated with the PLO under the auspices of the Norwegians in Oslo. In a tightly organized, well-researched, and well-supported exposition, he sets out the intricacies involved in arranging a meaningful dialog between a government and a nongovernmental political entity to achieve regional peace in the Middle East. The sensitivities of the Israeli political scene along with the political craftsmanship of Yitzhak Rabin are molded with the important input of American and Norwegian diplomacy to create a fine case study of contemporary international political negotiations. Although the events described here are overshadowed by the recent terrorist bombings in Israel, this book is still essential for anyone interested in the Arab-Israeli conflict and the contemporary peace process. Recommended for academic collections.
Sanford R. Silverburg, Catawba Coll., Salisbury, N.C.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Making Peace With The Plo: The Rabin Government's Road To The Oslo Accord
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