Table of Contents

Foreword by Albert Hourani. Introduction: The Palestine Problem, Past and Future. 1. The Origins and Development of the Palestine Problem, 1897-1948. 2. Thinking the Unthinkable: A Sovereign Palestinian State. 3. Regio-Politics: Towards a US Policy on the Palestine Problem. 4. Towards Peace in the Holy Land. 5. The United States and the Palestinian People. 6. The Half-Empty Glass of Middle East Peace. 7. The New Middle East Security Environment.

Reviews

A preeminent Palestinian Arab historian has collected seven previously published essays and an address originally given at Harvard, combining them to make a powerful political statement. The historical origins of the Palestinian people and the geographical antecedents of Palestine are irrelevant, he argues. The Palestinians exist and currently demand recognition and a homeland in which to live. The ``Palestine Problem,'' Khalidi notes, is at the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict; as the single most important destabilizing factor in the region, it demands attention from the United States, the only country that can broker a peace agreement and provide justice to both Palestinians and Israelis. A seminal statement from an intelligent observer, this is essential for current affairs collections.-- Sanford R. Silverburg, Catawba Coll., Salisbury, N.C.

Because the author is one of the leaders of the Palestinian-Jordanian delegation to the Middle East peace talks, this collection of essays and papers is of more than usual interest. But it is also compelling because of Khalidi's eloquence and persuasiveness as a proponent of the Palestinian cause. A highly skilled polemicist, Khalidi is by turns methodical, sardonic and coruscatingly critical in his assessment of the history of what he calls ``the Palestine problem.'' He favors a Palestinian state in the Occupied Territories, ``voluntarily demilitarized in its own self-interest and contractually so.'' He argues the case in the elegant and measured prose of a professional diplomat, deftly outlining the history of the Zionist state and its Arab opposition, and new concepts of security in the Middle East in the wake of the Gulf war, often throwing off witty one-liners like his observation that ``Sadats do not grow on trees, not even in the lush valley of the Nile.'' However, it is unfortunate that, events in the region having moved so quickly, this book must be published without Khalidi's response to Labor's return to power in Israel and the most recent round of peace negotiations. (Jan.)