Beyond Oslo, the Struggle for Palestine : Inside the Middle East Peace Process from Rabin's Death to Camp David

With new talks in the Middle East Peace Process about to begin, the shadows of previous negotiations fall heavily across all involved. In this powerful and absorbing testimony, one of leading figures of the Oslo talks, former Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie ('Abu Ala') takes us behind closed doors and inside the negotiating rooms of Wye River, Stockholm and Camp David, where the terms of peace and a Palestinian state were sketched out, argued over, and eventually lost. From his poignant handshake with Leah Rabin at the murdered Premier's funeral to his electrically-charged secret meeting with Ariel Sharon in the King David Hotel to the Machiavellian plotting inside Camp David, Qurie takes us on a gripping tour of the post-Oslo Peace Process as seen from the inside. In the minutes of these dramatic meetings - released here for the first time - larger than life characters emerge: Bill Clinton, Martin Indyk, Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat. Qurie recounts with candour and insight the rivalries and doubts within the Palestinian side which meant it failed to avert the double catastrophe of Camp David's failure and President Clinton blaming them for it. This indispensable first-hand account provides a completely new perspective on the history, issues and personalities that will determine the future of the Middle East.