Title: Peace and its discontents : essays on Palestine in the Middle East peace process /
Authors: Said, Edward W.
Publisher: Vintage Books,
Year: 1996
Subjects: Israel.; Arab-Israeli conflict; Arab-Israeli conflict
Abstract: Ever since Yasir Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin shook hands on the White House lawn, Israel and the Palestinian people have been engaged in what commentators persist in calling "the peace process." Yet Israel remains racked by violence and continuing land seizures, and Palestinians are more demoralized than ever before. Now in this probing and impassioned book, one of our foremost Palestinian-American intellectuals explains why the much-vaunted process has yet to produce peace - and is unlikely to as presently constituted. Whether Edward Said is addressing the fatal flaws in the PLO's bargain, denouncing fundamentalists on both sides of the religious divide, or calling our attention to the distortions in official coverage of the Arab world, he offers insights beyond the conventional wisdom and a sympathy that extends to both Israelis and Palestinians. He does so with an incisiveness, clarity, and fairness that make Peace and Its Discontents essential reading for anyone who cares about the future of the Middle East.
Contents: TABLE OF CONTENTS -- The PLO's bargain (September 1993) -- The morning after (October 1993) -- Who is in charge of the past and the future? (November 1993) -- Facts, facts, and more facts (December 1993) -- The limits to cooperation (late December 1993) -- Time to move on (January 1994) -- Bitter truths about Gaza (late February, early March 1994) -- Further reflections on the Hebron massacre (March 1994) -- "Peace at hand?" (May 1994) -- The symbols and realities of power (June 1994) -- Winners and losers (July 1994) -- The American "peace process" (August 1994) -- Decolonizing the mind (September 1994) -- A cold and ungenerous peace (October 1994) -- Violence in a good cause? (November 1994) -- Changes for the worse (late November 1994) -- Two peoples in one land (December 1994) -- Sober truths about Israel and Zionism (January 1995) -- Memory and forgetfulness in the United States (February 1995) -- Justifications of power in a terminal phase (April 1995) -- The middle east "peace process": misleading images and brutal actualities (October 1995) -- Interview with Edward Said (January 30, 1995) / Abdullah al-Sinnawi.