The Lost Years: Bush, Sharon, and Failure in the Middle East [Hardcover]

Mark Matthews (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 31, 2007

George W. Bush first met Ariel Sharon in 1998 on a fact-finding trip to Israel when he was governor of Texas and contemplating a run for the White House. From the memorable helicopter tour he gave the future president on that visit until he was incapacitated by a stroke seven years later, Sharon tried to enlist Bush in his dual strategies of quelling a Palestinian uprising and fixing the Jewish state's permanent borders. Bush met him part way but had his own bold ideas: a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a Middle East where democracy replaced tyranny. Neither leader grasped the essential first step toward achieving his vision: a process of tedious negotiation and mutual compromise between Israel and its longtime enemies. Lost Years describes how two risk-taking leaders worsened the Middle East situation by pursuing parallel preemptive wars that destabilized the region. Mark Matthews documents how a series of opportunities to stem the bitter conflict were allowed to lapse due to a combination of inattention, deliberate evasion, political pressure, and sheer blindness.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Matthews, who covered the Middle East for the Baltimore Sun, documents the changes that the rise of George W. Bush and Ariel Sharon brought to the American-Israeli relationship in this ambitious journalistic effort. As earlier prospects for negotiations with Palestinians receded into the background, the two leaders pursued ambitious, sometimes conflicting and ultimately ill-fated plans to advance their interests unilaterally, a development which, in Matthews's analysis, reduced the chances for peace. Quoting extensively from politicians, military personnel and others in the U.S., Israel, the Palestinian territories and international organizations, Matthews offers a balanced, if opinionated, view of the conflict and of the major personalities that have shaped it. While the author paints relatively sympathetic portraits of Bush and Sharon, he is far less sanguine about the causes they have chosen to endorse, deploring missed opportunities to implement a two-state solution. He particularly faults Bush's grandiose visions of regime change and democracy promotion for weakening America's hand. Though numerous details and anecdotes provide more padding than relevance, Matthews's account remains readable and offers much of interest to the student of Israeli or American politics. (Sept.)
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From Booklist

In the closing months of the Clinton administration, an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement seemed tantalizingly close. But now that sustained peace appears further away than ever, it is perhaps natural to speak of the "failure"of the policy of the Bush administration. Journalist Matthews provides a thoughtful but sometimes unfair critique of Bush's involvement (or lack of involvement) in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In essence, Matthews asserts that American endorsement of virtually all Israeli actions under the guise of "self-defense," or fighting terrorism, undermined our role as an honest broker. For example, Bush was the first American president to explicitly state that Israel could retain some settlements in an agreement. Matthews also points out several "missed opportunities" in which a more engaged administration could have broken the deadlock. Still, his analysis of the current situation, with Iran now a player in the conflict via its support of Hamas, is both incisive and disturbing. This is a valuable but hardly hopeful examination. Freeman, Jay

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Nation Books; 1st ed edition (August 31, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156858332X
• ISBN-13: 978-1568583327
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,667,829 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Unsatisfying, October 23, 2007

By 

Jill Malter ([e-mail]) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lost Years: Bush, Sharon, and Failure in the Middle East (Hardcover)

If I had written a 500-page book about the present Levantine conflict, it would not look very much like this one. My book would have concentrated on the more important aspects of the conflict. I would have told about the lies, the racism, the gratuitous aggression, the injustice, the failure to abide human rights for all, and the saturation of parts of some societies with counterproductive propaganda. When I got to the UN, I would not simply dismiss its preposterous behavior as influential on the region; I would condemn the entire idea of an organization such as the UN and use such material as evidence to support my claim. When I got to the journalists who eagerly took sides in the conflict, on the side of untruth and injustice no less, I would again not merely defend or attack one side in the conflict; I would use such material to appeal for some journalistic standards and integrity. When I got to the academics who sometimes even outdid the journalists, once again I would not merely counter their nonsense; I would appeal for academic standards and academic integrity.

Oh, there might be a few places where I would mention some of the same things that Matthews does. He does discuss the International Court of Justice and its perverse ruling on the Israeli separation barrier. But he does so in a rather matter-of-fact way, as if the primary significance of such a ruling were that Israel could not ignore it! I, on the other hand, see it primarily as an attack on truth, justice, human rights, and possibly on human civilization and our species as a whole. And I think this repudiation of reason by the ICJ reflects more on the ICJ and those who tolerate it than on the residents of the Levant.

Matthews makes it clear that he thinks a viable Levantine Arab state on contiguous territory is a key to peace in the region. Well, I think all this is at best peripheral to peace and at worst a key to precluding peace. It makes this book look as silly as a tome about how many angels can dance on the tip of an icicle.

I think the main issues are indeed human rights for all the people of the region and the need for everyone to abide these rights for all. I am giving the book two stars just for all the information in it, but that's as far as I'll go: I feel that most of what is in it has little to do with the problem.