Kissing Through Glass: The Invisible Shield Between Americans and Israelis

The United States and Israel are intertwined in a political relationship that is unprecedented in world history. The human dimension of this alliance--a complex dance of courtship involving love and fury, admiration and envy--is unique as well. Like ill-fated lovers, however, Americans and Israelis seem to be forever frustrated by their perceptions and expectations of each other.

Dr. Joyce Starr, a leading expert on the Middle East, explores how the long-standing American-Israeli relationship is often challenged by basic cultural, emotional, political, and religious differences--differences that often prompt Americans to ask, "Why can't they be more like us?"

Through exclusive interviews with American and Israeli businesspeople, journalists, community leaders, and government officials, Kissing Through Glass reveals how the idea of Israel fulfills quite different needs for people and how these fundamentally different outlooks foster ambivalence toward the realities of American-Israeli relations. Starr and her interviewees also address those specific issues that often divide Israelis from Americans, including the "Who is a Jew?" debate, the intifada, and Israel as every Jew's homeland.

Starr's provocative analysis makes a vital contribution to our understanding of the human side of this tempestuous international relationship.

Joyce Starr, Ph.D. is a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. She served as coordinator for George Bush Sr.'s Middle East task force, director of an advisory committee on Lebanon for the Reagan administration, and a senior aide in the Carter White House, where she helped chart the economic prospects for the Camp David Accords.

The recipient of a MacArthur Foundation grant, Starr is the author of groundbreaking studies and books, including: "U.S. Policy on Water Resources in the Middle East" (CSIS) and "Development Diplomacy: U.S. Economic Assistance to the West Bank and Gaza" (Tel Aviv University); Politics of Scarcity: Water in the Middle East (Westview Press); and A Shared Destiny: Near East Reconstruction and Development, (Praeger).