Book Beyond Alliance Israel In U S Foreign Policy

Book Description

In the aftermath of the 1982 exodus of the palestine liberation organization (PLO) from lebnon to Tunis, the palestinian resistance movement to Israeli occupation underwent a major transformation In the rew years following 1982, the internal dynamics of the palestinian movement vacillated between the extreme situations of geography and the nature of the struggle against Israel. With respect to geography, the center of weight of palestinian military and political leadership was moved to the furthest place from palestine since the rise of the palestine question earty in the twentieth century.

With respect to the nature of the struggle, the palestinian movement experienced the loss of its military alternative, however modest and found itself confined to unsatisfactory politidal means and appeals. During the same period two other developments pertaining to the geography and nature of the struggle took place. Geographically, the eruption of the palestinian popular uprising, or the historic territory of palestine for the first time since the Israeli occupation. Regarding the nature of struggle, the extreme employment of pyre political means, futile and stripped of any military capability after the resistance groups were forced to leave their bases in lebanon in 1982, Was replaced by the extreme of a costly but fruitful means of struggle-a widespread popular uprising throughout the west bank and Gaza strip.

The rapid transformation of the geography and nature of struggle brought with it new 'strugglers': the Islamic tesistance Movement (Hamas) and Islamic Jihad as new palestinian organizations with great influence and specific coloration. This was not only a new point of departure for the palestinian political struggle; it was also the palestinian incarnation of politicized Islam in the Middle East. Within this context the transformation of the palestinian struggle and the emergence of (palestinian) Islamism, the study examines Hamas's political thought and practice.

The focus on Hams, withour covering otherk and less influential Islamic movements in palestine stems from the movements greater relevance to the wider context of the palestine question. Enjoying an acknowledged popularity and significant political and military weight, Hams has claimed that it represent the maintream of palestinian Islamism, claim with which most obwervers would agree this statusk then justifies an in-depth study of the Hamas movement

Co-published with Columbia University Press ‎"Mansour's work is...the most satisfactory general examination of ‎ American policy towards Israel available...This is old-fashioned ‎ scholarship with a careful weighing of the evidence..."‎ ‎ L. Carl Brown, Princeton University‎ Acclaimed by scholars, Beyond Alliance is an elegantly reasoned ‎ and nonpolemical discussion of American policy towards Israel. In ‎ seeking the why behind the privileged relationship, the author ‎ takes the unusual approach of exploring the American foreign ‎ policy establishment's competing views of Israel as a strategic ‎ asset and Israel as a burden. Drawing his source material from ‎ experts writing both in general media and in specialized ‎ international and strategic security journals, he allows proponents ‎ of the opposing positions to speak for themselves without ‎ editorializing. ‎ Mansour's inquiry is divided into three phases: the forging of ‎ Israel's strategic role from 1948 to 1973, the reassessment of that ‎ role from the 1973 war to 1980, and the strategic alliance and the ‎ New World Order from 1981 to 1992. While addressing his overall ‎ theme, he weaves into the discussion penetrating insights ‎ concerning the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Suez crisis, the Camp ‎ David Accords, Israel's invasion of Lebanon, and the influence of ‎ the pro-Israel lobby on the Jewish community and American ‎ society as a whole. ‎ About the Author Camille Mansour, professor of international relations at the ‎ Sorbonne in Paris, is currently on leave to establish a Law Center ‎ at Birzeit University in the West Bank. He served as one of two ‎ principal advisors to the Palestinian delegations to the peace talks.‎

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