A revealing memoir by the Israeli leader who almost made peace with the Palestinians Written almost entirely from inside a prison cell, Searching for Peace is the compelling memoir of former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert. The child of parents who were members of the Irgun, the paramilitary group that fought for the establishment of Israel, Olmert became the youngest member of the Israeli Knesset in 1973, serving in the right-wing Likud party. He rose quickly in the party, serving in national government before being elected mayor of Jerusalem in 1993. As mayor he overcame decades of municipal malaise, inertia, and waves of terror attacks to bring huge improvements in the city's infrastructure, education, and welfare. Although a child of the Israeli right, it was during his mayoralty that he realized the inevitability of compromise and the need to divide the city in any future peace agreement with the Palestinians. Olmert rejoined the national government in 2003 as a top aide to then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. After Sharon suffered a debilitating stroke in 2006, Olmert took over as acting prime minister, then led Sharon's new centrist party Kadima to victory in elections. Heading a coalition government, Olmert led Israel through the war with Lebanon in July 2006 and approved the dramatic strike on Syria's nuclear reactor the following year. From late 2006 through 2008, Olmert engaged in some three dozen negotiations with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. The talks, Olmert says, came “within a hair's breadth” of reaching a comprehensive peace deal. At the same time, Olmert was fighting allegations that he had illegally accepted large sums of money from a well-connected American businessman. He was acquitted of all but a minor charge against him, but in 2014 he was convicted on charges of taking $15,000 in bribes involving the construction of an industrial park while he served as Minister of Industry and Trade. He served 16 months in prison, using his time to write these memoirs. Searching for Peace offers a riveting political story and an unparalleled window into Israeli history, peacemaking, politics, U.S.-Israel relations, and the future of the Middle East.

This book presents new theoretical and conceptual perspectives on the problematique of building just and durable peace. Linking peace and justice has sparked lively debates about the dilemmas and trade-offs in several contemporary peace processes. Despite the fact that justice and peace are commonly referred to there is surprisingly little research and few conceptualizations of the interplay between the two. This edited volume is the result of three years of collaborative research and draws upon insights from such disciplines as peace and conflict, international law, political science and international relations. It contains policy-relevant knowledge about effective peacebuilding strategies, as well as an in-depth analysis of the contemporary peace processes in the Middle East and the Western Balkans. Using a variety of theoretical perspectives and empirical approaches, the work makes an original contribution to the growing literature on peacebuilding. This book will be of much interest to students of peacebuilding, peace and conflict studies, Middle Eastern Politics, European Politics and IR/Security Studies.

The use of religion in inflaming the Palestinian/Israeli conflict represents one understanding of the Abrahamic traditions. Marc Goplin argues for a greater integration of the Middle East peace process with the region's religious groups.

"A trenchant and often pugnacious demolition of the numerous misconceptions about strategic thinking on the Middle East" -The New York Times Now updated with a new chapter on the current climate, Myths, Illusions, and Peace addresses why the United States has consistently failed to achieve its strategic goals in the Middle East. According to Dennis Ross-special advisor to President Obama and senior director at the National Security Council for that region-and policy analyst David Makovsky, it is because we have repeatedly fallen prey to dangerous myths about this part of the world-myths with roots that reach back decades yet persist today. Clearly articulated and accessible, Myths, Illusions, and Peace captures the real­ity of the problems in the Middle East like no book has before. It presents a concise and far-reaching set of principles that will help America set an effective course of action in the region, and in so doing secure a safer future for all Americans.

Gregory Levey’s modest goal is to solve the Middle East conflict—all by himself. After returning to North America following a stint in his midtwenties writing speeches for the Israeli government—first at the United Nations and then for the prime minister in Jerusalem—he thinks he is leaving the madness of the Middle East conflict behind. But nothing could be further from the truth. Levey soon discovers that everyone on this side of the Atlantic seems to think that they have the solution to the intractable conflict—and they all feel the need to tell him about it. Fatigued by the endless debate, the constant hostility, and the cacophony of shrill voices, he decides that the only way he is going to escape it all is if he solves the conflict himself, once and for all. So Levey sets out on a hilarious, quixotic, and surprisingly illuminating quest to broker a peace deal where a long line of world leaders have failed. Interacting with White House officials, DC lobbyists, congressmen, advisors to presidential candidates, high-profile journalists, secretive fundraisers, former Israeli spies now living in North America, and hundreds and hundreds of Jewish grandmothers, Levey tries to understand why the Middle East situation refuses to be resolved, and why so many people who live a world away are so obsessed with it. He combs through theories ranging from the eminently reasonable to the completely insane, engages in virtual peacemaking simulations, investigates an “online suicide bombing,” spends time with a former advisor to Yasser Arafat, undergoes training with a half-baked Jewish paramilitary group, goes undercover as an Evangelical Christian, and somehow ends up at a real-life castle owned by an eccentric, cape-wearing crusader for peace. In How to Make Peace in the Middle East in Six Months or Less Without Leaving Your Apartment, Levey brings his trademark brand of street-smart levity to a situation that many see as hopeless— and thereby reveals the very human and sometimes very silly side of a brutal, decades-old geopolitical conflict. Along the way, he meets a cast of characters that would be outright funny if the situation weren’t so dire. The result is a fast-paced, humorous, and insightful romp through U.S. policymaking in the Middle East.

After the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, Pakistan’s then President Pervez Musharraf declared: “The Palestinian front is affecting the entire Muslim world. All terrorists and militant activity in the world today has been initiated because of the Palestinian problem. This is because of the sense of hopelessness, alienation, and powerlessness.” The decade following the aftermath of September 11th has only proven that a comprehensive peace settlement in the Middle East and a resolve to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are a crucial necessity to global stability. In this well-researched and thoroughly-documented work, Professor Dennis J. Deeb II objectively aims to provide both a historical narrative of the events surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a historiography exploring the failures to achieve the end result of a final settlement between the Israelis and the Palestinians. What went wrong with peace? This book explores the issues of contention that must be resolved between the parties to reach a lasting settlement.

This series of essays provides in-depth analysis of the origins and dimensions of the conflict in Darfur, including detailed accounts of the evolution of ethnic and religious identities, the breakdown of local administration, the emergence of Arab militia and resistance movements, and regional dimensions to the conflict.

The Missing Peace, published to great acclaim last year, is the most candid inside account of the Middle East peace process ever written.

The quest for peace between Israel and its neighbors in the Middle East has captured the attention of the world media for decades. However, and much to the dismay of those who have placed great hopes in the ongoing peace process, the frequency of war has only increased in recent years. How do we explain this anomaly? Frequent terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians have emboldened the Palestinian Authority as it demands a new Islamic state called Palestine. World leaders irritate Israel by jumping aboard the Palestinian ship as it sails to statehood. The diplomatic efforts frantically continue, but the Hamas, Fatah, and Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations persist in their calls for Jihad, or holy war, against Israel. Why have the seemingly endless efforts for peace borne so little fruit? How can a truly lasting peace be achieved? In Peace For Peace: Israel In The New Middle East, author David Rubin exposes the false premises on which the peace process and peace plans have been based, explaining the confusion about a patently failed process resulting in some thirty years of effort, billions of dollars spent, and thousands of lost lives. Describing the greatly promoted, yet disappointing summits and the various peace plans that have blown up in years of terrorism and recurring wars, Rubin goes on to describe the reasons why the great hopes of peace negotiators have not been realized. Finally, Rubin presents us with the framework for a bold, practical peace plan, entitled Peace for Peace. With comprehensive analysis and lucid description, Rubin shows us how Peace for Peace, which combines historical justice and common sense, can bring a realistic and lasting peace to this fascinating, but troubled part of the world.