DALIA DASSA KAYE, Beyond the Handshake: Multilateral Cooperation in the Arab–Israeli Peace Process, 1991–1996 (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001). Pp. 341. $60.00 cloth, $21.50 paper

Extract

Following the end of the 1991 Gulf War, the Bush administration sought to reinvigorate the peace process. Rather than begin a new round of bilateral talks, however, the administration undertook a radically different approach in opening the Madrid Conference. Based on a pragmatic, functionalist approach to the conflict, officials such as Dennis Ross, Martin Indyk, Daniel Kurtzner, and Edward Djerejian convinced the president and Secretary of State James Baker to initiate a series of multilateral negotiations centered on three issue areas: arms control, economic cooperation, and the environment (including water issues). These talks, which became known as the multilaterals, lasted from 1991 through 1996 and included Israel, Egypt, Jordan, the Gulf Cooperation Council states, and the Palestinians.