****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Anyone who wishes to understand the wider Middle East, but particularly why there is no settlement for the Palestine/Israel problem, should read this book. The approach is chronological and factual, with detailed sections on the policies of Eisenhower, Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, George Bush senior, Clinton and George W Bush. There are interesting insights into the US-Saudi relationship, the changing US policies in the Iran-Iraq War, the first Gulf War and G.W.Bush's determination to invade Iraq despite much intelligence which should have disuaded him. On Israel-Palestine, some Presidents like Reagan and George W Bush were very pro-Israel and fairly disengaged from the problem ; others like Carter and Clinton put much US effort into the search for a solution. It is clear that in practice US presients do not (Eisenhower apart) "condemn" Israeli policy, but although Tyler doesn't say so, the facts lead to the conclusion that in return Israeli leaders treat the USA with contempt, for we see them repeatedly and deliberately sabotaging moves towards a peaceful and just solution to a dispute which has fuels regional instability and encourages international terrorism. Tyler gives full coverage to the problems facing the state of Israel, and the dangers they have faced from hostile forces and from terrorism, but again and again we see a totally disproportionate military response in which thousands of civilians are killed and many more maimed and left homeless, whether in Lebanon, Gaza or the West Bank. The leaders who order these actions are often on record as being against any prospect of a Palestinian state, and it is with American weapons and money that these various military operations defeat the efforts of those US leaders who want an acceptable settlement. I'm sure Obama would like a just solution to this destructive dispute, but his recent UN speech, very supportive of Israel, was followed within a day by the Israeli announcement of a further 1100 illegal homes on Palestinian land, actions which make any such peaceful solution increasingly immpossible. His administration's response that this was (merely) "disappointing" and "counter-productive" fits the pattern which Tyler's book factually presents, and leaves the reader with little hope that US policy will ever address the real issues in this region.
