Perceptions of Palestine: Their Influence on U.S. Middle East Policy (Updated Edition with a New Afterword) (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It is unhesitatingly recommended, as a standard text, to anyone wishing to better understand the conflict." -- Nigel Parry, Middle East International

"[A] masterful treatise on how it is that the United States managed to ignore the Palestinians for a century." -- Donald Neff, Journal of Palestine Studies

Product Description

For most of the twentieth century, considered opinion in the United States regarding Palestine has favored the inherent right of Jews to exist in the Holy Land. That Palestinians, as a native population, could claim the same right has been largely ignored. Kathleen Christison's controversial new book shows how the endurance of such assumptions, along with America's singular focus on Israel and general ignorance of the Palestinian point of view, has impeded a resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Christison begins with the derogatory images of Arabs purveyed by Western travelers to the Middle East in the nineteenth century, including Mark Twain, who wrote that Palestine's inhabitants were "abject beggars by nature, instinct, and education." She demonstrates other elements that have influenced U.S. policymakers: American religious attitudes toward the Holy Land that legitimize the Jewish presence; sympathy for Jews derived from the Holocaust; a sense of cultural identity wherein Israelis are "like us" and Arabs distant aliens. She makes a forceful case that decades of negative portrayals of Palestinians have distorted U.S. policy, making it virtually impossible to promote resolutions based on equality and reciprocity between Palestinians and Israelis.

Christison also challenges prevalent media images and emphasizes the importance of terminology: Two examples are the designation of who is a "terrorist" and the imposition of place names (which can pass judgment on ownership).

Christison's thoughtful book raises a final disturbing question: If a broader frame of reference on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict had been employed, allowing a less warped public discourse, might not years of warfare have been avoided and steps toward peace achieved much earlier?

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 379 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; Updated edition (October 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520217187
• ISBN-13: 978-0520217188
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #536,995 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

91 of 102 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unhesitatingly recommended as a standard text, January 11, 2000

By	Nigel Parry (St. Paul, MN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Perceptions of Palestine: Their Influence on U.S. Middle East Policy (Hardcover)

Although the history of America's "special relationship" with Israel is by no means a unexplored topic for authors, Kathleen Christison's "Perceptions of Palestine: Their influence on U.S. Middle East Policy" breaks new ground by its sheer scope of analysis, tracing 130 years of formulation of American perceptions of the Middle East, and their ultimate manifestation in U.S. government policy.

"In the Middle East," writes Christison at the beginning of her book, "terminology shapes reality; it becomes a way of seeing reality, and, finally, it is reality."

This single line, perhaps better than any other, encapsulates the political landscape mapped by Christison's book, a well-referenced 293-page investigation of the sources of the US mindset that has shaped Middle East policies through twelve key presidencies from Wilson to Clinton.

"Perceptions on Palestine" analyses the state of knowledge of the president and key policymakers in each administration and the preconceptions with which they entered office, by examining - where available - their writings and the writings of those who most closely influenced them; by exploring coexistent popular attitudes towards the Middle East in the media, films, and literature; and by looking at how each administration was influenced by the prevailing conventional wisdom.

I would unhesitatingly recommend this book as a standard text for anyone wishing to understand the reason for the prolonged nature of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.

115 of 131 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful, and probably very true, June 12, 2002

By	Barry D. Smith (Troutdale, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Christison's book on how the Palestinians have virtually been ignored by the United States throughout the Arab-Israeli conflict is a first-rate analysis of American foreign policy at its worst. She details the ways in which each president has been oblivious to the existence of a rich Palestinian culture and history. It is amazing how even the presidents we associate with being supportive of the Palestinian cause (Jimmy Carter) still suffered, to a certain degree, from this cross-cultural ignorance.

Perceptions of Palestine is highly effective in forcing the reader to sit back and reflect on their own views. It made me question to validity and objectivity of the information I receive every day on the middle east. I highly recommend this book as there are not many out there with such a unique and important argument.

58 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of the Breed, October 29, 2001

By A Customer

A scrupulously honest and well-researched history of the Arab-Israeli conflict in the context of the distorted view held by the U.S. public and its policy makers. In light of the recent terrorist attacks and turmoil in the middle east, this books serves as an anchor and guide to our miscast perceptions of playing the "honest broker" in the Middle East peace process. Fearful of being labeled anti-Semitic, our congressional leaders roll over at the first sign of pressure tactics from AIPAC. In the past the U.S media has served as a policy tool of the Israeli government as it hoodwinks the US public into sending billions to feed the war machine under the ruse of "self-defense. I hope reading this book will bring others around to the realization that we need a "truly" balanced policy in the Middle East which transcends national politics in the US.