The Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace

by Dennis Ross

"The definitive and gripping account of the sometimes exhilarating, often tortured twists and turns in the Middle East peace process, viewed from the front row by one of its major players."--Bill Clinton

The Missing Peace , published to great acclaim last year, is the most candid inside account of the Middle East peace process ever written. Dennis Ross, the chief Middle East peace negotiator in the presidential administrations of George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, is that rare figure who is respected by all Democrats and Republicans, Palestinians and Israelis, presidents and people on the street in Jerusalem, Ramallah, and Washington, D.C.

Ross recounts the peace process in detail from 1988 to the breakdown of talks in early 2001 that prompted the so-called second Intifada-and takes account of recent developments in a new afterword written for this edition. It's all Camp David, Oslo, Geneva, Egypt, and other summits; the assassination of Yitzak Rabin; the rise and fall of Benjamin Netanyahu; the very different characters and strategies of Rabin, Yasir Arafat, and Bill Clinton; and the first steps of the Palestinian Authority. For the first time, the backroom negotiations, the dramatic and often secretive nature of the process, and the reasons for its faltering are on display for all to see. The Missing Peace explains, as no other book has, why Middle East peace remains so elusive.

Genres: Middle East, History, Israel, Nonfiction, Politics, Islam, Religion

880 pages, Paperback

First published August 9, 2004

About the author

Dennis Ross, Middle East envoy for George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, is now a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Foreign Affairs called his first book, The Missing Peace, a major contribution to the diplomatic history of the twentieth century. (from the publisher's website)"

Reviews

[Harold Citron · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the book, but it seems to hold up to the proverbial comment on sausage making and politics. Dennis gets well into the nitty-gritty of international negotiations and at 900 pages, the book provides significant insight about the daily interactions that go on behind the scenes of these meetings. On one hand, this is a fascinating look behind the curtain of international diplomacy, it often gets bogged down in a this-said, that said, exchange. It's a high level of detail, and often, you can lose the thread of the larger picture and key elements to the bigger issues behind the ongoing flow of vents.

What I also found surprisingly absent from the book was knowledge about the various critical Arab and Palestinian players underlying points of view. Often Mr. Ross pointedly notes that he just didn't know what was going on in the minds of these various leaders. This fog, seems to raise the question, where was the US intelligence and analytical services of the State department and groups like the CIA and NSA? Either their part in these proceedings were specifically shrouded, or, despite a large government infrastructure dedicated to intelligence gathering, we are led to believe that the United States operated with a shoe-string staff of less than a half-dozen people, to help formulate and execute such a central part of our diplomatic endeavors.

That Dennis ends this book still questioning the real viewpoint of Yasser Arafat is astounding, given the amount of time spent with him and his key advisers and negotiators.

I also think that a companion book, compiling and discussing Dennis' thoughts on negotiating, both the key preparations and actual face-to-face activities, would be a worthwhile publication.

[Lucie Xu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Niall’s pick for our non fiction book club. Was a little slow at first, but ended up picking up a lot. Super interesting to learn more about the details behind all that has been going on. Definitely felt very frustrated throughout a lot of this - especially with how easily leaders would go back on their word / what they initially agreed on. Feel like I’m a lot more aware at just how even the smallest of disagreements can lead to such conflict and failure at negotiations. I am very glad I pushed through and read this, and am intrigued to see if there’s anything on 2004-present.

[Vaile · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dennis Ross was a member of the presidential cabinets of Reagan through Clinton and served as the cheif Middle East Peace negotiator for H.W. Bush and Clinton. A lot of people call this book a great insight to the peace making process in the Middle East. I found the text to be subtly racist and extremely biased toward the West and Israeli agendas. I suppose that makes sense, considering who the man is and what the main preoccupation of the United States is in the Middle East.

[Brendan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I generally avoid works of fiction, so the closest I get to fantasy/make-believe is reading about the middle east peace process.

Great book if you're interested in first-person history and the ins & outs of middle east shuttle diplomacy.

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dennis Ross is a highly respected expert on the Middle East who worked for US Presidents on both sides of the aisle from Carter to Obama and was chief Middle East Negotiator for HW Bush and Clinton. In early 2001, in the waning days of the Clinton Administration, a deal was on the table for most of the West Bank and all of Gaza to become a Palestinian State but (spoiler alert), sadly the talks collapsed and the 2nd Intifada occured. I'm not here to comment on whose fault this was but just to say that that offer was the biggest one ever offered from the Israeli side but the parties were not able to come to agreement.

This book describes Ross's years working for Bush and Clinton leading up to that moment. It is highly detailed and can be a slog as countless proposals are on the table in this high stakes endless negotiation. It can really be viewed as a book on the real work of diplomacy and the various political personalities in the US and Middle East.

However, I will say, the first chapter describes background on both the Israeli, Palestinian and overall Arab point of view starting from the beginning. I found this chapter a highly informative primer on the Middle East from an objective perspective. I learned a lot and feel I better understand each side's point of view, just from reading that chapter alone.

This is not an easy book to read but it is an interesting one that can be very exciting, but ultimately sad as we still feel the effects of the failure of the negotiations today.

[Joelle Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Precise, in-depth, and well read

This book is not a tell all memoir by Ross about how hard he tried, and how everyone was against him. While he cannot escape the importance of his own role, he rarely dwells on it. Rather, it is the cumulative work of 10 years of diplomacy, diplomacy that involved many people. He offers glimpses into the lives of leaders we usually only see on TV, and invites us to understand the emotional and political turmoil that was poured into the peace process.

[Peter Blok · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a must read for everyone interested in diplomacy. His first hand experience shows how diplomacy works in practise, especially in this extremely complicated case. Also because he openly discribes the failures, the situations he did not evaluate right, looking back.
There are issues he does not really touch, such as the question what makes that the United States have never put a halt to the Israelis, especially when they passed the line of international law which is the case of the illegal settlers.

[Darren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Remarkable, overwhelming and ultimately heartbreaking.

[Jonathan Sweedler]

From Ezra Klein 11/21/23 - Aaron David Miller - The best primer I've heard on Israeli-Palestinian Peace Efforts

[Mr Large Hadron Collider · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Flora · Rating 2 out of 5]

To keep myself interested, I played a game with the many people whose paths crossed Mr. Ross's: in the game, out of the game, or dead?

I am shocked that Mohammed Dahlan is still alive and that Walid al-Muallem has avoided the ax as his country has basically blown up. He's certainly doing better than Ryan Crocker these days. Sort of. Run-ins with the law aside, Crocker's place of residence, last I checked, is not in mortal peril. I see this Jonathan Pollard business is still going on. Good luck with that, Secretary Kerry.

I also read this book in fits and starts, often between library books, because otherwise it would all blur together and give me indigestion.

The second star is to acknowledge the book's importance; otherwise I'd leave it at 1. I can't recommend this book. I'd like to, because it has all the makings of a Vital Firsthand Resource, but it's so utterly depressing and generally dry that I couldn't finish it. The sheer recalcitrance of these people is just appalling. (Bibi, Assad the Elder and Arafat, in particular, come off poorly) Practically nothing gets done. Well, something must have, because there's certainly been some sort of progress between when I gave up reading and when I started editing Middle East stories -- but you'd never know, reading about so many failed/useless meetings, drafts, resolutions and godknowswhats, not to mention the incredibly shitty hand this job dealt to Ross's family.

I leave you with a retiring colleague's parting statement, which this book pretty much validated. "There has been one constant over the the last 37 years and as I pass the baton to all my successors, let me say this: the Israeli peace talks will always be with us."

[Gavin · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you look at when I started and when I finished you would have some questions about why I finished. Well to be honest because Dennis Ross is a good writer, but I got overwhelmed a few times. There are so many characters and thread here that I got derailed a couple of times. I gave three stars and perhaps it should be more as Dennis is comprehensive in detailing the way things as usual went south during his attempts as Middle East envoy and chief peace negotiator during the GHW Bush and B Clinton administrations.

I'll give you the long and short of it quickly. Yasir Arafat simply could not give up his base so he asked and asked for more, stared as if insulted, and because he was the only face the US, Israel, and plenty of Arab/European countries could negotiate with lost opportunities and left Gaza in the lurch.

All of this still continues with Mahmoud Abbas (0ver sixteen years later) as Palestine elections were once again postponed last week until December, and I predict will be postponed yet again in perpetuity.

This has region has never been resolved and it won't ever be resolved. Mark my words.

If you want to go down this rabbit hole this book will do it for you. Just expect to spend a lot of time unless you skim and don't care. I do, but I'm a realist, so I'm just in it for the soap opera drama.

[The American Conservative]

'At one level, Ross succeeds in producing an admirably comprehensive history of the process. But on a deeper level, Ross—now counselor to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a Fox News analyst—fails to provide a “fair and balanced” assessment of the history he recounts. While he is critical of the top leaders on both sides and freely admits that all parties—himself included—made mistakes, he lays the blame for the failure of the peace process at the feet of the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Yasir Arafat. As Ross puts it, “I would not now be writing about the failings of Oslo if it had not been for Yasir Arafat.”'

Read the full review, "The Peace That Failed," on our website:
http://www.theamericanconservative.co...

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was fortunate to take a special seminar on Mideast Politics at Marquette University during the spring semester of my senior year. One would think that would be too heavy of a workload for one's last semester of college, but I didn't hesitate. Ross is the former Middle East envoy to President Clinton as well as a senior level advisor in the Dept. of State for President George H W Bush. This was our required reading for Ross' seminar, which could be viewed as self-indulgent on his part, but for such a complex and hot topic The Missing Peace allowed readers an inside look through Ross' first hand account.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dennis Ross was the chief American negotiator in the first Bush and Clinton administrations attempting to bring Israel and Palestine together. This book is the definitive account of the painstaking and sometimes agonizing efforts to bring these parties together culminating in the failure of peace negotiations in the final days of the Clinton administration. His conclusion? Arafat couldn't bring himself to make the transition to becoming a post-conflict leader. The book gives us a behind the scenes look at the life of a negotiator, the missed opportunities, and the tragedy of the subsequent Intifada when the Palestinians walked away from peace in 2000.

[Paige · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are looking for a more objective (still slightly biased because it was written by an American) and more detailed understanding of the relationship between the Palestinians and Isreali's, I would read "The Missing Peace" by Dennis Ross. He was the lead Middle East negotiater under both the first George Bush and Bill Clinton (so generally bi-partisan). In this book, he is able to show the strengths and weaknesses of both sides from a leadership and argument perspective. After reading these books, reading the newspaper is so much more meaningful!

[Cendri · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book several years ago now, so the details are no longer fresh in my memory, but it's been such an important book for me, because it has so thoroughly shaped my outlook on Middle East politics. If you're not willing to dig through the several hundred pages of this blow-by-blow account of peace negotiations (both successes and failures) from the late 80s through the end of the 90s, I'd still recommend the first chapter or two, which are without question the most succinct, lucid, and even-handed portrayal I've found of the events and views that have led to the current conflict.

[Ciaran Mcfadden · Rating 2 out of 5]

Over 800 pages of both sides negotiating in bad faith .. the failure (or refusal) of Israel to fulfill Oslo, Wye agreement .. yet it's all Arafat's fault that the peace process collapsed and there won't be peace until he's replaced.

Well he's been dead 10 years now Dennis so how's the peace process going now you fuckwit !!

This book sums up all that is wrong with the negotiations for peace ... Israel is America's main ally in the Middle East ... Their needs (wants) come first ... America an honest broker ... Who really really believes that ??

[John Greenspan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a tough book to get through but I give it five stars because it is the best account we will ever have of why Bill Clinton's attempt to forge a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians failed. Nobody is ever perfect in these matters but Yasir Arafat was, in the end, incapable of signing on the dotted line because he relished his status as a victim. You cannot deal with people like that as this book makes clear.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even handed account and analysis of the recent history of Israeli / Palestinian peace process negotiations. The definitive work on the subject from the diplomat behind the Bush 41 and Clinton attempts at peace.

[Ghada Arafat · Rating 1 out of 5]

It is amazing how someone claims to be very understanding of the Palestinian perspictive of the conflict and people is not even close. Ross manifisted the American unfaith and lack of trust in Palestinians and their intentions

[Christopher Hurtado]

The Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace by Dennis Ross (2004)

[Rebeccah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this my senior year at Marquette while the author, Ambassador Ross, was guest teaching a class on Middle East politics. Dense but very good.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

An insightful and critical look into the mideast peace process of the Clinton era.

[Gordon Kwok · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book, likely one of the best on this topic. I will say this was a very difficult book as it took over a month to complete but I am glad I finished it. Highly recommended.