The Truth About Camp David: The Untold Story About the Collapse of the Middle East Peace Process (Nation Books) (Paperback)

by Clayton E. Swisher (Author) "THE WINTER OF 1999 was not a good time for U.S. President Bill Clinton..." (more)
Key Phrases: further redeployment, settlement construction, full withdrawal, United States, Camp David, West Bank (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"...A fascinating book, an invasive, incisive and merciless probe of the guts of the Clinton administration." -- Akiva Eldar,

"A carefully researched account that challenges conventional interpretations of the Camp David summit of 2000." -- William B. Quandt, Professor of Politics, University of Virginia, author of Peace Process

"Any future mediator will have to read this account before the start of any final-status negotiations." -- Charles Enderlin, author of Shattered Dreams and Jerusalem Bureau chief of France 2 television

"Challenging the pieties and political correctness of American discourse, Swisher makes a convincing case." -- L. Carl Brown, Foreign Affairs, September/October 2005

Product Description
The collapse of both sets of Arab-Israeli negotiations in 2000 not only led to recrimination and bloodshed, and the outbreak of the second Intifada, but to the creation of a new myth. Popular opinion blamed Syrian and Palestinian intransigence for the disastrous state of affairs, with politicians and their loyal pundits accusing the Arabs of rejecting a "generous" peace offer from Israel that would have brought lasting peace to the region.

The Truth About Camp David, by Clayton E. Swisher shatters that myth.

Based on the riveting, eyewitness accounts of more than 40 direct participants involved in the latest rounds of Arab-Israeli negotiations, including the Camp David 2000 summit, former federal investigator-turned-investigative journalist Clayton E. Swisher provides a compelling counter-narrative to the commonly accepted history. Swisher traces the source of the breakdown to President Clinton’s post-impeachment hardships and desire to repair his legacy, his hopeful alliance with Ehud Barak (and campaign to oust Netanyahu), and the collective demurral of his advisors to the supposed negotiating wisdom of an Israeli Prime Minister they knowingly followed into a pattern doomed to failure. Based on the perspectives of negotiators now speaking publicly for the first time, The Truth About Camp David invites the reader into new perspectives detailing the tragic inner workings of the Clinton Administration’s negotiating mayhem, their eleventh hour blunders and miscalculations, and their concluding decision to end the Oslo process with blame and disengagement.

The Truth About Camp David will reframe what may prove to be one of the greatest diplomatic failures in American history. It is not only a fascinating historical look at Middle East politics on the brink of disaster, but a revelatory portrait of how all-too-human American political considerations helped facilitate the present crisis.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 455 pages
• Publisher: Nation Books (September 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560256230
• ISBN-13: 978-1560256236
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #200,804 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Puts Dennis Ross book to shame, October 14, 2004

By	JeffGold "Jeff" (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews

First I read Dennis Ross' self-serving book about Camp David. Then I read this guy's.
No comparison. Ross' book is all about Ross. He is always right and the Israelis are always right.
Swisher, who interviewed everybody who was at Camp David, finds that there was plenty of blame to go around. And Ross is himself blamed for his blatant pro-Israel bias and for misleading President Clinton.
Swisher is a fine scholar. This book will be the one that future historians will view as the best source on what really happened at Camp David and why. It's a great Christmas gift too. How about some truth in your Christmas or Hanukah stockings!

65 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book yet on Mideast peace process, September 7, 2004

By	M. Rosenberg "freddymac" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Talk about doing your homework. Clayton Swisher has interviewed virtually everyone involved in the Middle East peace process. And they told him very different things than we have all read before. That is why, as of this time, this is the most definitive book on why the Oslo process collapsed in 2000. Well-written, heavily footnoted, loaded with juicy nuggets, this is a book anyone even mildly interested in the Mideast will want to read. All I can say is "Bravo."

39 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended for any American who wants to know what happened., February 20, 2006

By	Utah Blaine (Somewhere on Trexalon in District 268) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This book presents detailed, eye-witness accounts from all sides of the US/Israeli peace negotiations with the Syrians and Palestinians during the latter part of the Clinton administration. This is not a particularly well written book, it is clear that Mr. Swisher is still developing his craft, but it is invaluable to learn what really took place in these discussions. The text is repetitive at times, and could probably have been cut by 20%. There are other areas where detail is oddly lacking. This is a five star book for content, but only a three star book in terms of language/grammar. I've given it five to balance out some of the negative reviews. This is an important and timely book that will shatter some of the myths associated with the US role in the `peace process'.

The conventional wisdom in the US is that the US and Israel offered the Palestinians 90% of what they wanted, and were rejected. The conclusion is that since this offer was rejected, they have no partner for peace. The reality is considerably more complex. This book examines in detail, with accounts taken from participants on all sides, what was in fact offered to the Palestinians and why they rejected this offer. I challenge any reader who believes this conventional wisdom to read this book. Some of the negative reviewers below make very good points vis-a-vis Palestinian terrorism, Arafat's role in the second intifada, right of return, etc., but they miss the key issue of this book. To understand why the negociations failed and why the offer was rejected by Arafat, one must understand EXACTLY what was offered to the Palestinians. As described in great detail in this book, the Palestinians were offered far less than true statehood by the US and Israelis. They would have had a state in name (with a flag, an anthem, etc.), but the Palestinian state would be economically and politically subservient to Israel. They would not control their borders or their economy, their country would be divided by Israeli-only roads, and they would have a capital in a suburb of Jerusalem. This was not a process from which (from a US/Israeli perspective) a viable, independent, free Palestinian state would be formed, but one in which the Palestinians would accept Israeli political, economic, and military domination. Arafat quite rightly rejected this.

The second, and perhaps more chilling, aspect of this book is how the line dividing US and Israeli interests among the highest levels of the US government has almost totally disappeared. Why is Dennis Ross, a man described as more pro-Israel than the Israeli delegation and a servant of AIPAC, representing the US in these negociations? Surely there must have been someone who was slightly less one-sided in the State Department to take the role that Dennis Ross was thrust into?

A significant fraction (roughly 1/3) of the book deals with the Syrian/Israeli peace process, the return of the Golan Heights to Syria, and the death of President Assad. The main point of interest in these discussions is that Israel could have peace tomorrow with Syria if the Golan Height were returned in toto.

Overall, this is a detailed, factual, balanced account of the US/Israeli peace negociations with the Palestinians and I recommend it to anyone with an interest in this issue. I look forward to reading more from Mr. Swisher.