Cursed is the peacemaker
Subtitle: the American diplomat versus the Israeli general, Beirut 1982
By: John Boykin.
Series: Diplomats and diplomacy series
Publisher: Applegate Press
Published: 2002
Place of publication: Belmont, CA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 488
Subjects: Habib, Philip Charles, 1920-; Sharon, Ariel; Diplomatic and consular service, American -- Israel; Lebanon -- History -- Israeli intervention, 1982-1984; Israel -- Politics and government -- 1967-1993; United States -- Foreign relations -- Middle East; Middle East -- Foreign relations -- United States
Description: This book is the behind-closed-doors tale of how American diplomat Philip Habib worked out a peaceful end to the 1982 Israeli siege of Beirut. Only now can this remarkable story be told. For a generation, it has remained secret, locked away in the classified records and in the participants' memories. To piece it together, John Boykin dug through thousands of pages of documents that he got declassified and conducted over 150 hours of interviews. Israeli defense minister Ariel Sharon intended his invasion of Lebanon to be the masterstroke that would bring peace to the Middle East for decades. Instead, it defeated its own purposes, soiled Israel's reputation, and came to be widely considered Israel's Vietnam. This is a story of conflict between allies: on the national scale, between the US and Israel during some of the darkest days of their relations; on the personal scale, between Philip Habib and Ariel Sharon. But at heart it is the story of an extraordinary man wrestling with an extraordinary crisis. His story has never before been told.--Book jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 465-478) and index.