Inglorious Disarray

Since that fateful week of war in June 1967, when Israel's speedy military victory over the Arab states redrew the map of the Middle East, Europe, at least in terms of its influence in this crucial region, has been a cause looking for an opportunity (to borrow Henry Kissinger's classic description of Russian foreign policy). Europe's ongoing attempt to assert itself as a key player in the Middle East conflict has come to nought and it has failed to bring the warring parties to the negotiating table. For the most part it has not even been able to arrive at a united and coherent view regarding how to act vis a vis this conflict. Even when it has overcome this obstacle it has rarely succeeded in turning this united position into effective action. Though successive generations of European leaders have shared Joschka Fischer's belief that 'solving the Middle East and developing a real vision of peace is the major, major challenge for Europe', nowhere has the contrast between rhetoric and action been more obvious than in its attempts to meet this challenge. Inglorious Disarray tells the story of Europe's evolving, albeit stilted and often frustrating, involvement in the Israel-Palestine conflict over the last half century. It doing so it sets out how Europe's role has affected its relationship with Israelis, Palestinians and the wider Arab world, not to mention Europe's Muslim population, and how it has influenced Europe's political development in the decades since it became an economic powerhouse.

ISBN 1849041164   DEWEY edition DC23 ISBN13 9781849041164 (What's this?)   Pages 224 Publisher C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd   Published in London Imprint C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd   Height (mm) 216 Format Hardback   Width (mm) 138 Publication date 01 Jul 2011   Academic level General DEWEY 956.04

'A serious, cold-eyed account of political Europe's ineffective role in the Middle East conflict. Miller's unsparing analysis will provide much food for thought both for policy makers and for those with a more general interest in the region. This book will add to Miller's reputation as an impressive scholar.'-Lord Bew of Donegore, Professor of Irish Politics, Queen's University Belfast, and author of Ireland: The Politics of Enmity 1789-20 'I found Inglorious Disarray extremely interesting... it certainly adds another dimension to the Israel-Palestine conflict and is comprehensive, well informed and backed up by factual evidence rather than supposition.' - Professor Colin Shindler, SOAS, author of The Triumph of Military Zionism: Nationalism and the Origins of the Israeli Right 'This passionate and lucid account on the EU's role in the Middle East Peace Process should appeal to experts and the general public. Drawing from a variety of sources - Arab, Israeli, European and American - it narrates eloquently European Middle East policy in action and how this policy is perceived in the region. Rory Miller does an outstanding job in explaining how and why the EU plays 'second fiddle' to any US administration's intent to on making an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.'-Walter Posch, SWP Berlin

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