Perceptions of Palestine Their Influence on U S Middle East Policy 1st Edition by Kathleen Christison ISBN 978-0520217188 0520217187

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Product details: 

ISBN 10: 0520217187

ISBN 13:  978-0520217188

Author:  Kathleen Christison

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?

Table of contents: 

1. Palestinians in the Nineteenth-Century Mind
2. Woodrow Wilson: “Rising Above” Self-Determination
3. Franklin Roosevelt: Locked In
4. Harry Truman: History Belongs to the Victors
5. Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson: Possession Is Nine-Tenths of the Law
6. Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford: An Unrecognizable Episode
7. Jimmy Carter: Making a Difference
8. Ronald Reagan: Missed Opportunities
9. George Bush: No Illusions
10. The Pictures in Our Heads

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Tags: Kathleen Christison, Perceptions of Palestin, Their Influence