Shlomo Ben-Ami - Prophets Without Honor: The 2000 Camp David Summit and the End of the Two-State Solution

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the Universitys objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries.

Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press

198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America.

Shlomo Ben-Ami 2022

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above.

You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.

CIP data is on file at the Library of Congress

ISBN 9780190060473

eISBN 9780190060497

DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190060473.001.0001

To Itai, Mika, Liv, Zoe, and Daphne

Let the failures we bequeath you refine your gift of restraint and moderation

The Place Where We Are Right

From the place where we are right

Flowers will never grow

In the spring.

The place where we are right

Is hard and trampled

Like a yard.

But doubts and loves

Dig up the world

Like a mole, a plow.

And a whisper will be heard in the place

Where the ruined

House once stood.

Yehuda Amichai, https://princeton57.org/dynamic.asp?id=Amichai, with permission of the poets widow, Hannah Amichai

Tragedies are resolved in one of two ways, the Shakespearean way or the Anton Chekhov way. In a tragedy by Shakespeare the stage at the end is littered with dead bodies. In a tragedy by Chekhov, everyone is unhappy, bitter, disillusioned and melancholy, but they are alive. I prefer a Chekhovian not a Shakespearean conclusion.

Amos Oz in an interview with Roger Cohen, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/29/opinion/global/roger-cohen-sitting-down-with-amos-oz.html.

If there were a party of those who arent sure theyre right, Id belong to it, Albert Camus quoted by Tony Judt, https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1994/10/06/the-lost-world-of-albert-camus/

Men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under given circumstances directly encountered and inherited from the past.

Karl Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

The idea for this book originated from a conversation with Jonathan Freedland of the The Guardian. Jonathan came to see the diaries I had written throughout the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations in the last two years of Bill Clintons presidency. His plan was to write a play about the Camp David summit and the drama of the mis-encounter between the leaders at the summit. As the brilliant journalist and essayist that he is, Jonathan probably got absorbed by more important, and I hope more fulfilling, tasks. I finally ended up writing a critical account of the entire process from 1999 to these days, the first part of which is mostly based on my diaries. I wish to thank Jonathan for inadvertently drawing me back to a bygone era where the task of struggling for peace was still a necessary, and noble, endeavor. Peace diplomacy seems to have lost its appeal everywhere.

Inevitably, one accumulates debts of gratitude throughout the writing and publication of a book. I am first and foremost deeply indebted to Andrew Stuart, an agent and a friend. His vast experience in the editorial world and his advice on ways to improve the manuscript were truly invaluable. I am obliged also to David MacBride, the social sciences editor of Oxford University Press, New York, for his meticulous examination of the manuscript. His assistant editor, Holly Mitchell, was always kindly responsive and so was Emily Benitez. Thanks are due also to Cheryl Merritt for the editing process. Colonel (res.) Dr. Shaul Arieli, who worked with me in government, is today probably the most knowledgeable scholar of the intricacies of the Israeli-Palestinian situation. I wish to thank him for making available to me all the maps in this book. I also hope for his indulgence for leaving him as one of the last believers in the two-state idea. I gave up; he still resists heroically. I am also obliged to Lieut. Colonel (res.) Dr. Ephraim Lavie, with whom I worked closely during the entire negotiating process, for his invaluable help in locating bibliographical material.

Hussein Agha has unwittingly been a mentor on Palestinian affairs. Whatever may be good in my analyses draws to a large degree from his brilliance and teachings. Gilead Sher was an obliging partner throughout our close work together. His knowledge of the intricacies of the Israel-Palestine situation, and his experience in both military and political affairs as well as in the legal aspects of the conflict made him the man to work with.

The many backchannel peace seminars organized by the Toledo International Center for Peace in Spain were an instructive experience that further helped me shape my views on the Israeli-Palestinian conundrum. I am also indebted to the University of Columbias School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) for offering me the George S. McGovern Visiting Professorship for fall 2016, and to UCLAs Nazarian Center for Israel studies for the Visiting Professorship in the Winter of 20182019. The work on the seminar and lectures I gave at these institutions turned out to be an essential part in the preparation of this book.

My academic upbringing, and life experience on the whole, taught me the validity of the Jewish aphorism wisdom from all my teachers. But, the shortcomings of my work, this book included, are entirely my responsibility.

Shlomo Ben-Ami

The copyright for all the maps is Dr. Shaul Arielis, who kindly gave his consent for their use in this book.

Source: All the maps except the Alon Plan and Olmerts Realignment Plan, are from Shaul

Conflicts and peace processes tend to have their own particular vocabulary. Religion was central to the Northern Ireland conflict and to the India-Pakistan dispute, but was entirely absent from the Colombian armed conflict, or from the drama of South Africas apartheid, the civil wars in Central America, and the Morocco-Southern Sahara conflict. Power-sharing was key to the solution of the Northern Ireland situation, but is entirely irrelevant in the case of Palestine and Colombia. In none of these conflicts, except in the cases of Morocco and India-Pakistan has territory, annexation, and the delineation of borders played any role whatsoever. The vocabulary of the Israeli-Palestinian drama, and the attempts to solve it are overwhelmingly pervaded with the yearning of return (of Palestinian refugees), with claims over holy shrines, with Israels affirmation of its right to keep her settlements in occupied lands and her needs for