The Path to Geneva : The Quest for a Permanent Solution, 1996-2003

A detailed and intimate personal history of the Middle East peace process by one of its founding architects.

From the early days of the secret Oslo talks through the recent crises and new developments in Israel and Palestine, Yossi Beilin has been at the center of it all. This book highlights his intensive and historic meetings with President Clinton, Ehud Barak, Shimon Peres, Hosni Mubarak, King Hussein of Jordan, and Madeleine Albright, as well as Beilin’s crucial connections with such seminal Arab leaders as Yasser Arafat, Saeb Erekat, Faisal Husseini, and the first Prime Minister of “Palestine,” Abu Mazen. The Beilin-Mazen agreements are the basis of the current “road map” to Middle East peace.

The reader is carried with Beilin to Bill Clinton’s Oval Office, Mubarak’s Cairo, Hussein’s Amman, and many other centers of global power―becoming privy to historic encounters and the surprising details of those negotiations, both public and secret. In The Path to Geneva, we learn how Beilin came to be this world leader in search of peace, how he overcame all the inherent difficulties, how he interfaced with world leaders, and how he sees a solution to this ancient problem that creates a fair resolution for all sides.

This book is an extremely important and inspiring document, giving hope via pragmatism and the personal will of a dedicated, brilliant diplomat and visionary participant in this most challenging of arenas.

DR. YOSSI BEILIN served as Israel’s Minister of Justice from 1999 to 2001. A member of the Knesset for eleven years, Beilin has held ministerial positions in the governments of Rabin, Peres, and Barak. He is a leading proponent of the peace process and initiated the secret talks resulting in the ’93 Oslo Accords. He is the author of several books, including Israel: A Concise Political History, Touching Peace, The Manual For Leaving Lebanon, and The Path To Geneva: The Quest for a Permanent Agreement, 1996–2004.