Author(s): Bernard Wasserstein

Current Affairs & Politics

In spite of the current diplomatic impasse, Tony Blair's efforts and continuing bloodshed, Professor Wasserstein offers a realistic and persuasive basis for optimism in this startlingly original overview of the relations between Jews and Arabs in Palestine and Israel over the last century.In this new edition of the classic work on the historical and contemporary realities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Bernard Wasserstein challenges the conventional view of the struggle as driven primarily by irrational, nationalist and religious ideologies. Instead he focuses on hitherto relatively neglected dimensions - population, land, labour and the social dynamics of political change. He maintains that Israelis and Palestinians live today in 'Siamese twin societies'. However much they may wish to, neither side can escape the impinging presence and influence of the other. He argues that demographic, economic and social imperatives are driving the two sides willy-nilly towards some form of symbiosis and accommodation.