The Case for Peace: How the Arab-Israeli Conflict Can Be Resolved - Hardcover

by Alan Dershowitz (Author)

In The Case for Peace, Dershowitz identifies twelve geopolitical barriers to peace between Israel and Palestine-and explains how to move around them and push the process forward. From the division of Jerusalem and Israeli counterterrorism measures to the security fence and the Iranian nuclear threat, his analyses are clear-headed, well-argued, and sure to be controversial. According to Dershowitz, achieving a lasting peace will require more than tough-minded negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. In academia, Europe, the UN, and the Arab world, Israel-bashing and anti-Semitism have reached new heights, despite the recent Israeli-Palestinian movement toward peace. Surveying this outpouring of vilification, Dershowitz deconstructs the smear tactics used by Israel-haters and shows how this kind of anti-Israel McCarthyism is aimed at scuttling any real chance of peace.

Front Jacket

In the bestselling The Case for Israel, Alan Dershowitz used all his skills as an advocate to defend the Jewish state against the lies and distortions hurled at it in recent years. Now, as the Israelis and the Palestinians take tentative steps toward peace following the death of Yasser Arafat, Dershowitz offers a timely and provocative analysis of the opportunities and challenges ahead.

All reasonable people, Dershowitz argues, know what a final peace settlement will look like: two states, based on Israeli withdrawals from Gaza and most of the West Bank; a symbolic recognition by Israel of the rights of Palestinian refugees, with some compensation but no "right of return"; the division of Jerusalem; and a renunciation of violence, with the Palestinians taking all reasonable measures to stamp out terrorism. The problem is how to get there without more bloodshed.

To that end, Dershowitz identifies twelve geopolitical barriers to peace--and explains how to move around them and push the process forward. From the division of Jerusalem and Israeli counterterrorism measures to the security fence and the Iranian nuclear threat, his analyses are clear-headed, well-argued, and sure to be controversial. To cite just a few of his points: The "one-state" solution propounded by hard-line Palestinians and their allies on the left is an absolute nonstarter--a smoke screen for those who are enemies of peace.Palestinians cannot expect to get more West Bank land than they would have under the Camp David and Taba negotiations of 2000 and 2001; additional territorial concessions would be an implicit reward for Palestinian terrorism in the intervening years. A multinational force, including U.S. troops, may be necessary to respond to Palestinian terrorist provocations after a settlement is reached.In addition to cracking down on terrorists, Palestinians must consider extending their laws against "hate speech" to reduce the level of hostility toward Israel.

But, according to Dershowitz, achieving a lasting peace will require more than tough-minded negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. In academia, Europe, the UN, and the Arab world, Israel-bashing and anti-Semitism have reached new heights, despite the recent Israeli-Palestinian movement toward peace. Surveying this outpouring of vilification, Dershowitz deconstructs the smear tactics used by Israel-haters and shows how this kind of anti-Israel McCarthyism is aimed at scuttling any real chance of peace.

For anyone concerned about the fate of Israel and the Middle East, this provocative, hard-headed look at the prospects for peace will be required reading.

Back Jacket

Praise for The Case for Peace

"Alan Dershowitz brings his exceptional skills as a legal and political thinker to this concise and compelling argument for Middle Eastern peace. The simple chord that resonates through the complex scenarios described in "The Case for Peace" is one of decency and respect - for Palestinians, for Israelis, and, ultimately, for humanity itself. With an eye toward shared benefits and lasting resolution, Dershowitz offers a pragmatic proposal rooted in the lessons of the past and the opportunities of the present. Hopeful and wise, the blueprint for stability presented in this book is among the best in recent years."
--President Bill Clinton

"Alan Dershowitz has been on the forefront of making the case for Israel and against terrorism. Now he turns his attention to making the case for peace. He understands, as I do, how difficult it is to achieve peace with security. He confronts these difficulties with insight and with the benefit of years of experience."
--Ariel Sharon

"Alan Dershowitz's "The Case For Peace" is a sober, pragmatic and yet enthusiastic voice for peace between Israel and Palestine, to be based not on sentimentalist wishful thinking and not on dogmatic theorizing but on realism and empathy. I read it with thrill."
--Amos Oz

"In The Case for Peace, Alan Dershowitz has offered a thoughtful and profoundly logical response to all the critical questions about what sustains the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians and what can end it. For anyone who believes in peace, even while having doubts about whether it can be achieved, this is an important book to read."
--Dennis Ross, former U.S. Envoy to the Middle East and author of "The Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace"

"Alan Dershowitz has done it again! Just as he brilliantly presented The Case for Israel, he cogently argues that now is the time for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, with the passing of Yasser Arafat and the democratic election of Mahmoud Abbas. The Case for Peace, like The Case for Israel, takes aim at Israel's enemies, but Alan Dershowitz now recognizes that the enemies of peace, in the extremist camps of the Palestinians and Israel, are also enemies of an Israel that deserves to have peace within secure borders next to a Palestinian state. He properly takes special aim at those American academics who insist that only a one-state solution will provide justice for Palestinians, a certain prescription for the end of Israel as a Jewish state."
--Stuart Eizenstadt, former senior official in the Carter and Clinton administrations

Author Biography

Alan Dershowitz, the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, is one of the country's foremost appellate lawyers and a distinguished defender of civil liberties. His many books include the "New York Times" bestsellers "The Case for Israel" and "Chutzpah" as well as "The Vanishing American Jew," "Why Terrorism Works," and "America on Trial." He has been profiled and interviewed widely in the media and has written for the "New York Times," the "Wall Street Journal," the "Los Angeles Times," and many other newspapers and periodicals.
www.wiley.com/go/dershowitz