Struggle for Peace

The determination of ordinary people to end regional and global conflicts is a powerful force for peace in today's world. The Struggle for Peace explores how average citizens on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are working for peace. New essays by noted scholars are juxtaposed with profiles of individual Israelis and Palestinians involved in peace activism. What emerges is a fresh perspective on the prospects for peace in this troubled area. Coordinated with the documentary film of the same name, the book is designed as a tool for the study of conflict resolution generally and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in particular. The twelve original essays deal with the issues from different disciplinary perspectives: political science (Yehoshafat Harkabi, A. R. Norton, Muhammad Muslih, and Robert Vitalis); history (Avraham Zilkha and Joel Beinin); anthropology (Robert Rubinstein); sociology (Salim Tamari); film (Steven Talley); law (Edward Sherman); and international peacekeeping (Christian Harleman). The human side of the struggle is presented through brief biographies and portraits of twenty-five ordinary Israelis and Palestinians involved in peace activities in Israel and the West Bank. Both film and book are components of a larger educational project, Perspectives on Peace: The Middle East, directed by Elizabeth Fernea, a scholar of Middle Eastern society. Mary E. Hocking is author of Islam: The Religious and Political Life of a World Community, part of a print-audio course sponsored by National Public Radio.