Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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."

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!

I have read virtually every book on the Palestinian-Isreali conflict and I found this book to be among the best. Clayton Swisher brings a truly unique perspective to a complex and often misunderstood issue. This is a must read for anyone who wants to truly understand the conflict.

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.

I was reading Dennis Ross' always interesting Missing Peace on Camp David 2000 finding myself with the uncomfortable feeling I would never figure out what did happen. These lingering suspicions drove me to find the lowdown somewhere else, and presto here it is. I cannot finally vouch for anyone' statements in this quagmire of diplomatic Machiavellians, but Swisher's account makes clear how we were probably fooled by the spin coming out of the Clinton-Barak camp after the collapse of the talks. So that's how they did it!
This is a key book on the discrepancy between the propaganda and the facts, with Arafat's taking the blame shown up for what it is.

A must have for anyone seeking the truth. This book gives us a perspective that we have never seen or heard before. The book is based on the interviews of virtually every major player in the peace process. If you want to know what really happened, this is the book for you.

Hmmm, why is it not shocking that the reactionary pro-Israel voices find this book to be "one-sided"? In reality, Swisher has extensively interviewed representatives of all parties involved in the Camp David debacle. His thesis is not that one party or the other is to blame, but rather that the Camp David negotiations were structurally flawed from the start. Of course, any narrative that doesn't reinforce the Arafat-as-rejectionist and Barak-as-generous-offerer myth is sure to arrouse the ire of the reactionary pro-Israel contingent, but if you aren't satisfied taking Dennis Ross's book as the gospel (btw, in every interview and appearance I've seen, Swisher encourages people to read Ross's book as well as his own) and you want to find out a bit more of what the major players in the Camp David fiasco had to say after the fact, then check this book out.

Clayton Swisher writes his own observations from inside the closed door meetings between Israeli and Arab negotiators. He also adds observations of others who witnessed these negotiations. You get a view of these negotiations that you have never seen before. Absolutely worth reading.

For those of us who have over the years read again and again that the Palestinians turned down a golden opportunity at Camp David this is a refreshing read. It never did ring quite true that the Palestinians actively sought victim status. For a start there was the question of all those 'settler' settlements; then there was the preliminary failed move for peace with Syria. One moment Barak was reported as being prepared to agree to the UN resolution to return to the pre-1967 Syrian border in return for peace then the talks failed due to an apparent Syrian failure to agree to 'reasonable' changes proposed by Israel.It smacked of double dealing by Bill Clinton. This account rings true.

Gives us the real truth, and not the spin of what really happened behind the closed doors at Camp David. Opened my eyes to what has gone on in the Mid-East Peace process and shattered any previous myths I may have believed. I loved the pict of Bill Clinton that is included.