Author: Clayton E. Swisher
Paperback: 318 pages
Publisher: Hesperus Press Limited (2011)
ISBN: 978 1 84391 353 5 (Paperback)
Reviewed by Rt Hon Lord David Steel of Aikwood KT KBE DL
Clayton Swisher's fascinating publication of the Palestinian Papers (leaked to and broadcast by Al Jazeera and The Guardian) is subtitled pessimistically "The End of the Road".
His basic thesis is that the papers so reveal the craven negotiating stance of the Fatah hierarchy that the attempt to secure a two-state solution is fatally wounded and should be abandoned. There are two things wrong with that suggestion. First, and most important, no one has put forward an alternative approach to peace, though I recognise that he is far from alone in believing that the two-state dream is dead.
Second, the book was published just before the Fatah/Hamas accord was agreed (and predictably denounced by PM Netanyahu) and before we have seen the full outcome of the so called Arab spring. I visited Cairo after the fall of Mubarak and found Egypt - having talked both to Presidential hopefuls and the youth coalition - in exciting but positive turmoil.