| Book Review | The American Historical Review, .

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Book Review

Canada and the United States

Kathleen Christison. Perceptions of Palestine: Their Influence on U.S. Middle East Policy. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. 1999. Pp. ix, 370. $40.00.

Kathleen Christison, a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) analyst and currently a freelance writer, has written what her publisher terms "a controversial new book" that condemns the United States for adhering to a pro-Israeli frame of reference in regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The United States is accused of shirking its responsibility by not preventing the post-1948 wars in the Middle East and for not taking an interest in, or trying to understand, the plight of the Palestinians. The Israeli government, whether Likud or Labor, is condemned for its tunnel vision regarding its security interests and overall intransigence regarding the Palestinian people. The Palestinians are absolved of any responsibility for their own fate. Christison argues that even if the Palestinian leadership had developed a propaganda apparatus as effective as the "Israeli lobby," they would have been unsuccessful because "ultimately, Americans had no place in their mind-set for Palestinians and what they had to say about their grievances and aspirations" (p. 287). 1

Though the book at times reverts to a polemical style, there is much that is useful. In explaining why each American administration since that of Woodrow Wilson could not change its frame of reference regarding its perceptions of Palestine, the reader is presented with a concise analysis of the Palestinian viewpoint and policy alternatives that the American government might have attempted. In referring to the 1948 War, Christison engages in an interesting review of the change in Israeli historiography that, led by scholars Benny Morris, Tom Segev, and others, sought to dispel the myths associated with Palestinian dispersal during the conflict. . . .

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