Sari Nusseibeh

Sad I seem to have lost this review. Very interesting premise — how do we make a Palestinian's life as comfortable as possible within the confines of Zionism — but seems to endorse a perpetual apartheid in practice.

Really interesting treatise. A two-state solution is pretty much dead on arrival, so Nussiebeh brings up some very interesting possible ways to implement a one-state solution (as a means to a 2-state or even as an ends on its own), all backed by his philosophy that the value of a future Palestinian state is the material well-being it brings its citizens, rather than perhaps the national / political / military identity it will provide.

I am trying to get through this before I visit Israel and the West Bank but I will have to pick it up again upon my return. This is a memoir of growing up in the West Bank to an important Palestinian family and personal friend of Arafat. It is dense, it has a lot of history and I just don't have time to finish it. So far focus is on the history of the Palestinians and the 1948 conflict with Israel. It is well written and engaging.

This is a really interesting book, although it is more political memoir than autobiography. Still, for most Americans (and I believe we are who it was written for), it will offer a unique perspective on the Israel/Palestine situation, the PLO, and the peace process.

Highly recommended.