Peacemaking (ePub)

After half a century of animosity and wars, Jordan and Israel succeeded in reaching a peace treaty through bilateral negotiations under the Middle East peace process that was initiated and sponsored by the United States and the Soviet Union, later the Russian Federation. This book is an account written by the Prime Minister of Jordan who signed the Peace Treaty, a senior minister in his cabinet at the time, and a minister who served later in the cabinet. All three authors had been instrumental in peace-making as Dr Majali headed the Jordan delegation, and Anani and Haddadin worked with him as senior members of the delegation. The three were effective in following up with the implementation of the Peace Treaty. This book reveals previously unwritten episodes of peace-making as the authors lived them from within. The hardships of representing the Palestinians before the Palestine Liberation Organization exchanged formal recognition with the State of Israel, the difficulties of negotiations with Israel, of coordination with the other Arab parties, and in defending the peace-making against the domestic opposition are told in detail. The mutual moves for confidence building, and the triumph of arriving at an agreement in which both adversaries were winners are experiences that the authors tell in a candid and thorough fashion. Their work is a much needed reference on the Middle East peace process in both its bilateral and multilateral conferences.