Shattered Dreams

February 15, 2003
Enderlin, the Middle East bureau chief for France 2 public television, has lived in Jerusalem for decades. His detailed account of numerous peace negotiations, which formed the basis of a PBS Frontline documentary in June 2002, begins with the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin in November 1995, shortly after he signed the Oslo II accords, and ends when Bill Clinton left the White House. Much of the book is devoted to the year 2000, including the Wye River Plantation meetings and the Camp David meetings in July, which were ultimately unsuccessful. Enderlin's portrayal of these negotiations is more evenhanded than many press accounts, not blaming either side for the failure and showing that both made efforts and yet were reluctant to take the necessary steps. His story is based on public statements of the participants, his own reporting, and the private notes and diaries that some participants made available to him. Long quotations from such sources and the present-tense narrative throughout give a great sense of immediacy and urgency. This valuable summary of a turbulent period is similar to Eytan Bentsur's Making Peace, which dealt with the Madrid conference in 1991.-Marcia L. Sprules, Council on Foreign Relations Lib., New York

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