Shattered Hopes: The Failure Of Obama's Middle East Peace Process

President Barack Obama's first trip abroad in his second term took him to Israel and the Palestinian West Bank, where he despondently admitted to those waiting for words of encouragement, “It is a hard slog to work through all of these issues.” Contrast this gloomy assessment with Obama’s optimism on the second day of his first term, when he appointed former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell as his special envoy for Middle East peace, boldly asserting that his administration would “actively and aggressively seek a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians.” How is it that Obama’s active and aggressive search for progress has become mired in the status quo? Writer and political analyst Josh Ruebner charts Obama’s journey from optimism to frustration in the first hard-hitting investigation into why the president failed to make any progress on this critical issue, and how his unwillingness to challenge the Israel lobby has shattered hopes for peace.Written in a clear and accessible style by the advocacy director of a national peace organization and former Middle East analyst for the Congressional Research Service, __Shattered Hopes__ offers an informed history of the Obama administration’s policies and maps out a true path forward for the United States to help achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace. President Barack Obama's first trip abroad in his second term took him to Israel and the Palestinian West Bank, where he despondently admitted to those waiting for words of encouragement, “It is a hard slog to work through all of these issues.” Contrast this gloomy assessment with Obama’s optimism on the second day of his first term, when he appointed former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell as his special envoy for Middle East peace, boldly asserting that his administration would “actively and aggressively seek a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians.” How is it that Obama’s active and aggressive search for progress has become mired in the status quo? Writer and political analyst Josh Ruebner charts Obama’s journey from optimism to frustration in the first hard-hitting investigation into why the president failed to make any progress on this critical issue, and how his unwillingness to challenge the Israel lobby has shattered hopes for peace. Written in a clear and accessible style by the advocacy director of a national peace organization and former Middle East analyst for the Congressional Research Service, Shattered Hopes offers an informed history of the Obama administration’s policies and maps out a true path forward for the United States to help achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace.

On just the second day of his first term, Barack Obama appointed former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell as his special envoy for Middle East peace and boldly asserted that his administration would "actively and aggressively seek a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians." At the outset of Obama’s second term, here is the first hard-hitting analysis of why the administration has entirely failed on this issue, a failure brought on in part because of Obama’s wrongheaded obeisance to Israeli policy and its US advocates.

Written in a clear and accessible style by the director of a national peace organization who has also been a Middle East analyst for the Congressional Research Service, this book offers an informed history of the Obama administration’s policies and maps out a progressive path forward.

On just the second day of his first term, Barack Obama appointed George Mitchell as his special envoy for Middle East peace and boldly asserted that his administration would 'actively and aggressively seek a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians'. At the outset of Obama's second term, here is a hard-hitting analysis of why the administration has entirely failed on this issue, a failure brought on in part because of Obama's wrong-headed obeisance to Israeli policy and its US advocates. Written in a clear and accessible style by the director of a national peace organization who has also been a Middle East analyst for the Congressional Research Service, this book offers an informed history of the Obama administration's policies and maps out a progressive path forward "Writer and political analyst Josh Ruebner charts Obama's journey from optimism to frustration in the first hard-hitting investigation into why the president failed to make any progress on this critical issue, and how his unwillingness to challenge the Israel lobby has shattered hopes for peace"--Provided by publisher Hard-hitting critique of the Obama administration's failure in the Middle East, by a leading DC-based advocate