Palestinian Politics after Arafat: A Failed National Movement (Middle East Studies) - Tapa dura

"[Author]... Ghanem lays the blame for the failed [peace] process on both the Israelis and the Palestinians, but goes a step further, claiming that the Palestinian national movement has reached the end of its political and organizational road." -Bustan: The Middle East Book Review "[This book] is a welcome addition to the literature on the Palestinian national movement, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and the Middle East peace process.... It is highly recommended for readers seeking a better understanding of the history and current state of Palestinian politics." -H-Levant "[Ghanem] presents an empirically informed, engaging narrative of the highly personal, corrupt rule of Yasser Arafat, the repeated but unsuccessful attempts to reform the PLO since the early 1970s, and the political struggles within Fatah and between Fatah and Hamas following the death of Arafat in 2004. Ghanem's insightful analysis is particularly valuable for understanding the conflict between Fatah and Hamas between 2004 and 2007... Recommended." -Choice, September 2010 "A valuable source on Palestinian Politics in the post-Oslo accords period." -Emile Sahliyeh, University of North Texas Ghanem (Univ. of Haifa) argues that the Palestinian national movement became a failure following the Oslo Accords of 1993 for three reasons: internal fighting; lack of progress in achieving its declared goals, including the liberation of the occupied territories, the return of the refugees, and the establishment of a viable Palestinian state; and loss of external support. He presents an empirically informed, engaging narrative of the highly personal, corrupt rule of Yasser Arafat, the repeated but unsuccessful attempts to reform the PLO since the early 1970s, and the political struggles within Fatah and between Fatah and Hamas following the death of Arafat in 2004. Ghanem's insightful analysis is particularly valuable for understanding the conflict between Fatah and Hamas between 2004 and 2007... Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate, research, and professional collections. -- ChoiceG.Tezcur, Loyola University Chicago, September 2010

The Palestinian national movement reached a dead-end and came close to disintegration at the beginning of the present century. The struggle for power after the death of Yasser Arafat in 2004 signaled the end of a path toward statehood prepared by the Oslo Accords a decade before. The reasons for the failure of the movement are deeply rooted in modern Palestinian history. As'ad Ghanem analyzes the internal and external events that unfolded as the Palestinian national movement became a "failed national movement," marked by internecine struggle and collapse, the failure to secure establishment of a separate state and achieve a stable peace with Israel, and the movement's declining stature within the Arab world and the international community.