Is the Two-State Solution Already Dead?: A Political and Military History of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict - Softcover

El-Hasan, Hasan Afif

9780875867922: Is the Two-State Solution Already Dead?: A Political and Military History of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0875867928 ISBN 13: 9780875867922

Publisher: Algora Publishing, 2010

Written by a Palestinian with intimate knowledge of the political and physical landscape of the region, at its basic level the book advocates for a just peace based on the human rights and international law, a peace which all parties to the century-old conflict need. In this history of Palestine, the author shows that both sides of the conflict as well as the international community share the blame for the failure to bring the issue to a just conclusion. Most of the responsibility, he says, lies at the door of the Palestinian leaders themselves, who seem to suffer from institutionalized incompetence in dealing with the Israelis; and the Israelis are to be blamed for their refusal to transform their colonial enterprise into reconciliation politics by acknowledging the claims of the indigenous Palestinian people. At the same time, there is every sign that this impasse was deliberately created at the outset by the international community, led by Great Britain, in the endless game of "divide and rule." Unlike many optimistic writers who expect US President Barack Obama and his administration to find a just solution to the conflict, the author concludes that the Obama Administration would have to reverse the traditional US policy in the Middle East entirely if it is to solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Delving into the historical background behind all the parties to the issue, the book provides much-needed background for understanding news events today and basic information that even human rights activists and peace organizations may not have fully appreciated. Throughout, the author seeks to transcend his ethnicity and deal fairly with the positions of people holding different worldviews.

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About the Author:

Born in Beit Eiba, a small village near Nablus, while Palestine was still ruled under the British Mandate, Hasan Afif El-Hasan, Ph.D, is a political analyst and journalist whose work is published in Al-Ahram, PalestineChronicle.com and other print and online media. Dr. El-Hasan lived through the 1948 Arab–Israeli war, then the annexation of the West Bank to Jordan. He witnessed the defeat of the Arab armies, the exodus of the Palestinians, the total dissolution of their community and the ensuing chaos. The Iraqi military contingent camp was on his village’s land in 1948 but as the Iraqi commanding officer said, “We have no orders to fight.” This paradoxical situation inspired the author’s future research and writing. After completing high school in the West Bank, Mr. El-Hasan earned his teaching credentials in Nablus and taught math and science in its secondary schools. Later he came to the United States, where he earned a B.S. degree in electronics engineering and an M.S. in electrical engineering, and enjoyed a successful career in technology. He then earned a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California at Riverside and went on to study the origins and the context of the current conflict.

Review:

Political analyst and journalist El-Hasan's work can be found published in Al-Ahram, PalestineChronical.com, and other print and online media. Born in Palestine while it was still ruled under the British Mandate, and having lived through the 1948 Arab-Israeli war and the annexation of the West Bank to Jordan, he offers students, academics, and scholars an insider's perspective on the historical and ideological background of the Israelis and the Palestinians, that led to the present state of conflict. El-Hasan argues that in order to establish a sovereign Palestinian state, the Palestinians must end factionalism, the Israeli electorate political orientation must move away from the ideology of conquest, and the US must transform its traditional Middle East policy from blind support of Israel into an even-handed approach. He concludes by reviewing nonviolent options that the Palestinians might consider if the two-state solution is declared dead. --�2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR

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