Touching Peace

As one of the architects of the 1993 peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians, Beilin is well placed to deliver a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the process that led to that breakthrough, which he does in this capable and fascinating report. Beilin gives a blow-by-blow account of the roles played by both the academic and political negotiators involved in Oslo--Arab, Israeli and Norwegian. There are no earth-shattering revelations; Beilin portrays Rabin, for example, conventionally, as the stoic hard-liner who forged a reluctant peace. Still, interesting nuggets of fresh insight come through: Beilin reveals, for instance, that initially he kept his own mentor, Shimon Peres, in the dark about early contacts with the Palestinians, which were not yet known or supported by the Israeli government, and he confirms that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators agreed, just before Rabin was assassinated, to make the Jerusalem suburb of Abu Dis the capital of a Palestinian state. He focuses on the nitty-gritty of the talks and fails to examine the changes in the broader context that allowed the end of hostilities between the two sides to occur; few readers--whether diplomatic or political junkies--will mind, however. Beilin's optimistic book is a welcome reminder of a recent period when it appeared that diplomacy could quell the hostilities in the Middle East. A concluding chapter broaches important internal issues Israel will have to address to live in peace, from redefining nationalism to reenvisioning foreign policy. (Aug.)