The Only Language They Understand: Forcing Compromise in Israel and Palestine

Thrall, an experienced journalist and commentator on the Middle East, has linked together and updated substantial analyses on various aspects of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to explain the lack of progress in spite of 40 years of close attention by American presidents. In 1977–78, President Jimmy Carter guided important agreements on a foundation for peace. Since then, Israel was able to reduce the threats from external Arab armies through negotiations, and responded to the Palestine uprisings by convincing Palestinians to accept limited elements of self-rule and by expanding settlements and claiming new land in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Thrall concludes that Israel has never really acknowledged the validity of Palestinian history or demand for sovereignty. He notes ironically that President Barack Obama entered office in 2009 with empathy for Palestinian claims but failed to produce any improvements for them.