A foreign policy expert provides a fresh and accessible analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, its complex obstacles, and possible solutions. Luis Fleischman is a sociologist and Middle East policy expert who has served as a senior advisor to government officials and members of congress. In The Middle East Riddle, he examines obstacles to achieving peace that transcend the negotiations process, mostly relying on a broad sociological analysis. Over the years, the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians has seemed like an intractable conflict of opposing narratives. Some argue that the Palestinians want to put an end to the State of Israel, while others believe Israelis want to impose their sovereignty via settlement expansion. However, the history shows that the two sides have been very close to an agreement. Fleischman examines a variety of nuanced solutions towards progress. He analyzes the idea of a Palestinian/Jordanian confederacy, as well as a proposed Israeli unilateral withdrawal from most of the West Bank. The book also explores the chances that the Palestinian security establishment, that has worked together with the Israeli security establishment for years, could generate the leadership necessary to restore order.

The Middle East Riddle's uniqueness lies in its integration of different perspectives in order to understand the complexities of the Israeli-Arab conflict.

A perceptive and provocative history of Henry Kissinger's diplomatic negotiations in the Middle East that illuminates the unique challenges and barriers Kissinger and his successors have faced in their attempts to broker peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors. “A wealth of lessons for today, not only about the challenges in that region but also about the art of diplomacy . . . the drama, dazzling maneuvers, and grand strategic vision.”—Walter Isaacson, author of The Code Breaker More than twenty years have elapsed since the United States last brokered a peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians. In that time, three presidents have tried and failed. Martin Indyk—a former United States ambassador to Israel and special envoy for the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in 2013—has experienced these political frustrations and disappointments firsthand. Now, in an attempt to understand the arc of American diplomatic influence in the Middle East, he returns to the origins of American-led peace efforts and to the man who created the Middle East peace process—Henry Kissinger. Based on newly available documents from American and Israeli archives, extensive interviews with Kissinger, and Indyk's own interactions with some of the main players, the author takes readers inside the negotiations. Here is a roster of larger-than-life characters—Anwar Sadat, Golda Meir, Moshe Dayan, Yitzhak Rabin, Hafez al-Assad, and Kissinger himself. Indyk's account is both that of a historian poring over the records of these events, as well as an inside player seeking to glean lessons for Middle East peacemaking. He makes clear that understanding Kissinger's design for Middle East peacemaking is key to comprehending how to—and how not to—make peace.

This volume investigates the nature and changing roles of the non-state armed groups in the Middle East with a special focus on Kurdish, Shia and Islamic State groups. To understand the nature of transformation in the Middle Eastern geopolitical space, it provides new empirical and analytical insights into the impact of three prominent actors, namely ISIS, YPG and Shia Militias. With its distinctive detailed and multi-faceted analyses, it offers new findings on the changing contours of sovereignty, geopolitics and ideology, particularly after the Arab Uprisings. Overall this volume contributes to the study of violent geopolitics, critical security studies and international relations particularly by exploring the ideologies and strategies of the new non-state armed actors.

A meditation on the art of history-writing in the medieval Near East