Doomed to failure? : the politics and intelligence of the Oslo peace process / Ofira Seliktar.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The theory and practice of predicting political change -- The theory and practice of conflict resolution: the Israeli-Palestinian struggle -- The road to Oslo: the triumph of the new Middle East paradigm -- Creating the Palestinian authority-- a partner for peace? -- Implementing Oslo: the Rabin-Peres difficult launch, 1996-99 -- Netanyahu's midcourse "correction" of the Oslo peace, 1996-99 -- Barak's acceleration: the push for final status negotiations, 1999-2000 -- The collapse of the Oslo peace: Camp David II, the outbreak of the Al Aqsa Intifada, and the Taba talks, 2000-2001 -- Reflections on the predictive failure of the Oslo peace.

This ground-breaking book examines how and why the much-vaunted Oslo Peace Accords between the Israelis and Palestinians collapsed. The author analyzes the players on both sides of the accords, pointing out the attitudes and actions that serve to undermine peace and promote conflict. On the one hand, she criticizes the Islamist organizations Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad for not tolerating the idea of any true long-term peace with Israel. On the other hand, she scrutinizes the factions for and against Oslo that developed within Israeli government circles, and she calls into question the ability of Israeli intelligence to correctly assess the Palestinian negotiators. By means of such examination, this book poses a fundamental question: Can Islamic fundamentalism ever accept the existence of Israel or will it short-circuit any prospect of peace between majority-Muslim states and their non-Muslim counterparts?