Publications

Jordanians, Palestinians, and the Hashemite Kingdom in the Middle East Peace Process
Adnan Abu-Odeh
(Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press, 1999), 322 pages, $US37.50 (cloth), US$19.95 (paper)

This book by Adnan Abu-Odeh, a Jordanian official who has held a number of high-level positions, seeks not to narrate the history of Jordan and Palestine, but rather to illuminate the Transjordanian-Palestinian dynamic with respect to historical events of the past eight decades. He describes the relationship between Jordanians, Palestinians and Israelis as that of three people locked in a room with only two seats. Until the third party, namely the Palestinians, secures his own seat, the adverse interaction among the three is bound to continue.

Abu-Odeh, a Jordanian of Palestinian origin, and currently a political advisor to King Abdullah II, offers an interesting perspective on the Transjordanian-Palestinian dynamic and the role of the Hashemite royal family as an entity that transcends regional, cultural, and sectarian boundaries despite the misperception, prevalent over the past two decades, that the Hashemites identify primarily with the Transjordanian community (i.e., Jordanian nationals of Transjordanian origin as opposed to Palestinian-Jordanians who were absorbed into Jordan proper during the unification of the West and East banks in 1950.)

Abu-Odeh identifies the issue of the Palestinian refugees as the major irritant in Jordanian-Palestinian-Israeli relations. He contends that a Jordanian-Palestinian confederation following the establishment of an independent Palestinian state would enable the Palestinian community of Jordan to integrate itself into the Transjordanian population.

This assumption is backed both by statistical evidence that nearly 60% of Transjordanians regard Transjordanians and Palestinian-Jordanians as one people, and by the idea that a democratic integration of Palestinian refugees into Jordanian society would provide Jordan with the significant regional role it has sought in the past.

The author also asserts that, while Palestinian nationalism - the concept of Filastin - long predates the borders established by the British mandate, Jordanian nationalism was an effect rather than the cause of the creation of Transjordan in the early 1920s. He suggests that, following the creation of a Palestinian state, the integration of the Palestinian refugees in Jordan into the larger Jordanian national identity would only be natural.

Abu-Odeh supports the idea of a Palestinian-Jordanian confederation allowing both parties to maintain their identities while providing a framework for the joint planning and implementation of defense, economic policies and foreign affairs. The author suggests that a trilateral, cooperative effort could be established and that it would be certain to bring about changes in both attitudes and identities, transforming what is currently a nationalistic conflict into a strong regional partnership. (Eileen Hren)

Water for the Future: The West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel, and Jordan
Committee on Sustainable Water Supplies Middle East
(Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1999), 226 pages, US$35.00 (paper)

This landmark study is the result of a collaborative process between the principal science councils of Israel, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, and the United States, members of which met in Washington, DC, in 1994 to consider how they might work collaboratively to improve their communities. Ensuring sustainable water supplies was identified as the most pressing problem facing the Middle East and work was begun to address the issue, resulting in this report.

The committee members used the approach of the US National Research Council to conduct their work, which involves bringing together volunteer, multi-disciplinary experts to write consensus reports. The members came from the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities; the Palestine Academy for Science and Technology; the Royal Scientific Society, Jordan; and the US National Academy of Sciences.

As its title implies, the report provides a variety of management options for the region’s future water resources. The researchers looked at the full range of physical, biological and social alternatives that might be considered in sustaining and/or supplementing the region’s water supplies. They also stressed the importance of healthy ecosystems and biodiversity, which help to create and sustain human water sources. The principle of intergenerational equity and the need for fairness to both the current and future populations of the Middle East were important considerations as well. Many of the options examined in the report address the need to improve the efficiency of water use such as through conservation and better use of existing technologies.

The authors point out that, "regardless of national boundaries, the waters of the area are shared because the region is hydrologically connected." Therefore, policy makers must "take a regional hydrologic viewpoint in water resources planning." This important and broadminded report should find a wide audience among all who share an interest in Middle East water issues. (Tim Werner)

Available from the National Academy Press, Washington, DC; fax (1-202)334-2451; e-mail amerchan@nas.edu; website http://www.nap.edu.

The Internet in the Middle East and North Africa: Free Expression and Censorship
Human Rights Watch
(Washington DC: Human Rights Watch, 1999), 96 pages, US$7.00

This slim volume, researched and written by Eric Goldstein, Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch, examines how governments in the region have adopted different methods to restrict the flow of information from the Internet within their borders. The Internet policies of various states are surveyed to show the different ways free expression is currently being limited.

Various forms of on-line information control are profiled, both by type and by country-specific analyses. The most severe method in use is the total denial of public access to the Internet, such as in Iraq, Libya and Syria. More common, however, are various policies that filter and block Internet content, such as those enacted by Bahrain, Iran, Yemen, Tunisia, and Saudi Arabia.

Telecommunications is a state-controlled monopoly nearly everywhere in the region, so blocking national networks and international gateways can be accomplished with relative ease. The most frequently cited rationale officials give for limiting information on-line for their citizens is the desire to preserve traditional values and cultural norms in the face of increasing technological (i.e.,Western) change. Governments also explain their restrictive policies as stemming from the need to control the pace and scope of technology’s influence in their societies, rather than dismissing the Internet’s merits altogether.

Among the measures Human Rights Watch believes should be taken to protect on-line freedom of expression are: providing individuals access to encryption mechanisms; freeing Internet service providers from responsibility for the on-line content that their customers view and use; and shifting censoring mechanisms from governments to individuals or "end users." More generally, the book recommends that legislation and practices governing on-line content in the region should be consistent with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees individuals the "freedom to seek, receive and impart information of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice." (Daniel Klass)

The Future of Islam and the West: Clash of Civilizations or Peaceful Coexistence?
Shireen T. Hunter
(Westport, Connecticut, USA: Praeger Publishers, 1998), 195 pages, US$55.00 (cloth), US$17.95 (paper)

In her latest work, Shireen Hunter, Director of Islamic Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, provides an objective and impartial reading of Islamic and Western socio-political experience in their different temporal and territorial contexts.

By assessing the relative role of civilizational factors in the shaping of external relations between states, Hunter subjects to shrewd historical analysis Francis Fukuyama’s challenging thesis of the "End of History" and Samuel Huntington’s prophecy, which claims a "Clash of Civilizations."

Her empirical and scholarly approach outlines Islam’s pattern of interaction with other cultural, political and economic forces within Muslim societies and the pattern of relations between Islamic countries and the West. This impressive exploration of political Islam suggests ways in which to undermine the so-called intractable dichotomy between Islam and the West if one challenges certain basic and commonly held views regarding identity, community and the vision of interstate relations in Islam.

Evaluating the state of relations between Islamic and Western states at the level of an intractable Islamic and Western ideological split is minimalistic and unproductive, according to Hunter. She argues that motives rooted in Islam will continue to have much less influence in the behavior of Muslim states if one considers security, economic factors, socio-political realities and the interests of the elite. In essence, the politics of interstate relations will characterize the level of cooperation and competition between Islamic and Western states rather than civilizational factors.

Importantly, Hunter’s analysis stresses the unlikelihood of a civilizational clash between Islam and the West, thereby obligating responses that minimize the risk of conflict between the West and the Islamic world and maximize the opportunities of their reconciliation. (Gary Blythe)

The Middle East Peace Process: Interdisciplinary Perspectives
Ilan Peleg, editor
(Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1998), 300 pages, US$19.95 (paper)

The aim of this edited volume is to examine some of the historical, sociological, regional, institutional, and economic dimensions of the current peace process between Israelis and Palestinians. In portraying relations in such a holistic manner, the editor, Ilan Peleg (Lafayette College, Pennsylvania), strives to give the reader an appreciation of the deep complexities involved as the two sides inch toward peace.

The sociological landscape receives a fine analysis here. For example, the division between Muslims and Christians and its role in the peace process - one of the most important in Palestinian society - is explored by Daphne Tsimhoni, a research fellow at the Truman Institute of Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She points out that Palestinian Christians have traditionally been at the forefront of pressing the Palestinian cause to various Western media and have had significant representation in the diplomatic corps of the PLO. Tsimhoni relates that Palestinian Muslims see the prominence of Christians in Palestinian society partly as a result of the familiarity Christians have with the West and their shared religious roots, and as a reflection of their interest in gaining acceptance within the larger, Muslim community.

Tsimhoni describes the role of Palestinian Christians as essentially a balancing agent, which contributes to the moderation of the Palestinian Authority and supports a two-state solution while also countering the more militant stance of groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Increasingly freed from international security concerns, the region’s economic sphere will change and assume a larger role as well, according to Gary Mundlak, a lecturer at Haifa University Law School. He foresees increased cross-border movement of capital and labor between Israel and its neighbors until some sort of regional equilibrium can be reached. The effects of such dynamism will be varied, depending on a state’s placement within the region’s socio-economic strata. Israel, for example, can expect to find more of its manufacturing sector moving to neighboring countries, where labor costs are lower.

The book concludes with a chapter by Peleg examining the fragmentation of modern Israeli society and politics. He expects Israel to painfully reassess itself and its raison d’être as international security concerns, so long the magnet for domestic consensus, undergo an important shift in scope and meaning. (Daniel Klass)

A Public Peace Process: Sustained Dialogue to Transform Racial and Ethnic Conflicts
Harold Saunders
(New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), 368 pages, US$45.00 (cloth)

Harold Saunders has provided the conflict resolution community with a new, seemingly effective and well-tested tool to manage and control deeply entrenched conflicts. This tool is not new, it is dialogue. However, this approach coupled with the original thinking behind it makes it a must-read for people involved in dispute resolution.

Saunders argues convincingly that the primary responsibility in solving conflicts lies with citizens themselves. They must be involved throughout the process of resolution, and it is in their hands to sit down together and attempt to resolve issues. Saunders focuses on how to re-direct people’s ability for dialogue into sustained peacemaking. He goes outside the formal dispute resolution systems of mediation and negotiation to suggest the sustained dialogue approach as a means of transforming conflictual relationships.

The sustained dialogue approach is laid out in detailed stages to give citizens the necessary tools, energy, and power to take initiative and transform their conflicts into working relationships. It comes as a response to the limitations imposed on governments and outside actors in helping solve conflicts; only citizens outside government possess the capacity to deal creatively with the problems they confront.

Saunders’ approach is premised on a mélange of conflict resolution theories ranging from diplomacy to academic perspectives to activism. It is also targeted at citizens who are directly involved in conflict. The book is remarkable not only because it is innovative and creative, but also because it caters to domestic and international conflicts and the common trends between them.

A public peace process entails several stages before culminating in a sustained dialogue, which itself requires five different stages. In addition to his theoretical account, Saunders backs up his presentation with examples of sustained dialogues from the US, the Middle East, and Central Asia. The book also offers a concise manual for people to apply in areas of conflict.

Following his earlier work, The Other Walls, Saunders breaks new ground with a theory that flows from long experience. Public Peace Process offers an uncommon approach for those who are interested in trying something new in conflict resolution. (Oussama Safa)