Byline: 

Dennis Roos, a senior United States policy makers through four recent 

Well, yes, as a matter of fact; how about the diplomat who has devoted his professional life to trying to bring about that peace, who has tirelessly toiled in the face of such grinding futility? This is surely not how Dennis Ross, one of the United States’ chief Middle Eastern policy makers through four recent administrations, would characterize his career, but it was with a degree of morbid curiosity that I turned to his latest book, “Doomed to Succeed: The U.S.-Israel Relationship From Truman to Obama.” 

Ross, who served most notably as President Clinton’s special envoy to the Middle East, has produced a work that is simultaneously comprehensive, quite fair-minded and somewhat ponderous. As the subtitle suggests, this is not a history 

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of Arab- Israeli peace efforts per se, but rather of the evolution of Israeli-American diplomatic relations — except these two matters are so inextricably linked as to pose an almost semantic difference. Because of that linkage, and because of American fears of repercussions from Arab nations should they appear too cozy with Israel, those relations have not always been as close as one might assume. While President Truman famously recognized Israel just 11 minutes after its declaration of statehood in 1948, he and his immediate successors assumed a decidedly cautious approach. It wasn’t until 1962, 14 years after Israel’s founding, that the Kennedy administration approved the first arms sale to the Jewish state — and purely defensive weapons at that — and not until 1964 that an Israeli prime minister was accorded the honor of an official White House visit. While Ross enumerates a number of factors leading to the steady strengthening of ties between the two nations, certainly a crucial one was the deepening of the Cold War and the Balkanization of the region into rival Soviet and American camps. 

Weighing on that closeness, however, was the enduring hostility of Israel’s Arab neighbors, some of them also American allies, and central to that hostility was “the Palestinian Question.” Forge a peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, so many in successive administrations believed, and American influence in the region would blossom; let the problem fester and risk Arab wrath — and a cutoff of their oil. In “Doomed to Succeed,” Ross chronicles in exhaustive detail the many initiatives and proposals and road maps generated over the years, mostly by American diplomats, in hopes of attaining that peace. 

Despite his diffident style, one is able to glean Ross’s villains and heroes in these efforts. Perhaps his foremost villain is Yasir Arafat, the P.L.O. chairman who, in the waning days of the Clinton administration, walked away from the best deal ever offered to the Palestinians because he was unable to make the transition from revolutionary leader to statesman. A close second appears to be Yitzhak Shamir, the Israeli prime minister whom President George H.W. Bush pegged as an unscrupulous liar, a characterization that, from the evidence presented here, seems justified. For sheer coldblooded cunning, however, it’s hard to top America’s own Machiavelli, Henry Kissinger. In 1969, with President Nixon and Secretary of State 

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William Rogers eager to pursue regional peace efforts in the wake of the 1967 Six- Day War, the president’s national security adviser vigorously argued that the United States do nothing of the sort lest the Soviet Union share credit. “The prerequisite of effective Middle East diplomacy,” Kissinger wrote, “was to reduce the Soviet influence so that progress could not be ascribed to its pressures.” The ensuing diplomatic paralysis helped provoke the 1973 Yom Kippur War. 

On the flip side, Ross displays enormous admiration for the Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, the former hard-line general who, perhaps more than any other Israeli leader, genuinely sought a lasting settlement with the Palestinians, only to be assassinated for his troubles. Joining Rabin in the good-guy camp are the first President Bush and President Clinton, the former for what Ross sees as his principled forthrightness, the latter for the extraordinary energy — and political capital — he expended in his own peace effort. The writer also reveals a soft spot for Bush’s secretary of state James Baker, just about the only person in these pages with the good sense to lose his temper periodically at the endless haggling and nit- picking debate he’s forced to endure. In one particularly amusing anecdote, Ross recounts a meeting he and Baker held on the eve of an international conference, at which a Palestinian delegation raised a series of last-minute issues. “With you people, the souk never closes, but it is closed with me,” Baker thundered, before leaving the room. “Have a nice life.” 

Unfortunately, such moments are few and far between in “Doomed to Succeed,” and while the detailed ins and outs of the work that went into organizing this multilateral summit conference or that Memorandum of Agreement might be of interest to the Middle Eastern specialist, the lay reader is likely to feel a bit numbed. 

Then again, the specialist may be Ross’s intended audience, considering that much of the book’s accumulation of detail is directed at buttressing his two main thesis points. First, Ross argues, despite great fretting by American diplomats over the decades, neither the American-Israeli relationship in general, nor the Palestinian Question in particular, has ever been of paramount concern to the governments of the Arab world when it comes to their own relations with the 

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United States; instead, the decisive factor has always been what suits their own, more parochial interests. Because of this (and here is Ross’s second thesis point), American fears of Arab repercussions for their closeness to Israel have rarely been realized, just as the expected rewards for adopting a more “pro-Arab” stance have been consistently lacking. 

There is certainly a great deal of truth to this argument, but it also seems a self- evident one. Surely it is obvious to all by now that many Arab leaders have used Israel as a convenient whipping boy over the years — both to channel domestic unrest and to maintain their Pan-Arab street cred — but isn’t it just as obvious that, when push comes to shove, those leaders will choose their own national interests over those of the Palestinians? As for the United States suffering neither the worst that is threatened nor reaping the best that is promised from the Arab nations, isn’t that also simply in the nature of geopolitics? 

So intent is Ross on making this point — he returns to it in his discussion of every presidential administration going back to Truman — that he seems to rather miss its Israeli corollary, one made plain by his own evenhanded reporting: that Israel tends to pay heed to American administrations that stand up to it and to run roughshod over those that don’t. After all, it was Jimmy Carter, still denounced by many as the most “anti-Israel” president in American history, who helped force the first peace treaty between Israel and an Arab nation, Egypt. By contrast, Ronald Reagan, Carter’s successor and a man who talked of America’s enduring moral commitment to Israel, was swiftly blindsided by a series of Israeli unilateral actions about which his administration had no warning: the bombings of the Osirak nuclear facility in Iraq and the P.L.O. headquarters in Beirut in 1981, and the invasion of Lebanon and siege of Beirut in 1982. 

In his conclusion, Ross offers up one tangible suggestion for how an Israeli government might effect some confide nce- building to show the world it genuinely wants compromise: It could refrain from adding to or building new settlements in the West Bank except in those areas likely to be annexed to Israel in any peace deal. This seems a slender reed to pin one’s hopes on — but, as Middle East negotiators have doubtless been muttering for decades, it’s better than nothing. 

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Except it is to nothing that it will almost surely lead. That is because at the heart of the Palestinian Question is a conundrum no American administration has been willing or able to unravel. The Palestinians, seeing themselves as the aggrieved party, have never taken the initiative in offering up peace terms, and whatever the Israelis have offered has never been enough. For their part, and despite the lip service paid to their American allies, most Israelis see little to be gained and much to be risked in a peace agreement and are seemingly content with the status quo, a contentment increased by the concrete wall as high as 26 feet that now separates them from their Palestinian neighbors. As for the Americans, the traditional overseers of this contest, their tepid response to the settlements issue adds constant fuel to Palestinian rage — and obstinacy — while their military support further enhances Israel’s sense of security, giving it even less motive to negotiate. As James Baker might say, “Have a nice life.” 

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THE EVOLUTION OF U.S. POLICY TOWARD ISRAEL 

Today, the relationship between the United States and Israel is extolled by American presidents. We take it for granted that presidents will stress their commitment to...... 

DOOMED TO SUCCEED 

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A necessary and unprecedented account of America's changing relationship with Israel 

When it comes to Israel, U.S. policy has always emphasized the unbreakable bond between the two countries and our ironclad commitment to Israel's security. Today our ties to Israel are close—so close that when there are differences, they tend to make the news. But it was not always this way. 

Dennis Ross has been a direct participant in shaping U.S. policy toward the Middle East, and Israel specifically, for nearly thirty years. He served in senior roles, including as Bill Clinton's envoy for Arab-Israeli peace, and was an active player in the debates over how Israel fit into the region and what should guide our policies. In Doomed to Succeed, he takes us through every administration from Truman to Obama, throwing into dramatic relief each president's attitudes toward Israel and the region, the often tumultuous debates between key advisers, and the events that drove the policies and at times led to a shift in approach. Ross points out how rarely lessons were learned and how distancing the United States from Israel in the Eisenhower, Nixon, Bush, and Obama administrations never yielded any benefits and why that lesson has never been learned. Doomed to Succeed offers compelling advice for how to understand the priorities of Arab leaders and how future administrations might best shape U.S. policy in that light. 

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Praise for Doomed to Succeed 

“Dennis Ross and ‘Middle East Peace Process’ are nearly synonymous . . . In Doomed to Succeed, the Washington hand brings his account up to date by covering the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations and looking at U.S.-Israel relations from Truman on . . . Mr. Ross’s treatment of each administration is necessarily brief but useful for that very reason: It’s hard to think of a college course on this subject that would not assign this book as a text.” —Elliot Abrams, The Wall Street Journal 

“In this well researched history Ross meticulously chronicles the bumpy ride that the two nations have taken together . . . This book is both thoughtful and largely even-handed. It also provides an important eyewitness account of the history it analyses.” —David Holahan, Christian Science Monitor 

“It would be hard to find someone whose background better suited him to write about the U.S.-Israel relationship than Dennis Ross . . . His new book does not disappoint: Doomed to Succeed devotes a pithy chapter to each administration, explaining its policies and the reasoning behind them. ” 

—David Isaac, The Washington Free Beacon 

“Dennis Ross could hardly have found more relevant timing to release his latest book examining the long history of the US-Israel relationship, including an often personal account of the tumultuous relationship between Jerusalem and the Obama administration.” —Rebecca Shimoni Stoil, The Times of Israel 

“Ross’s even-handed history does identify perhaps the 

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Write a review (you'll need to sign in to your Goodreads account or sign up) (showing 1-4 of 4)
By Jean · 􏰃􏰃􏰃􏰃􏰃 · November 21, 2015
This is an absolutely fascinating book so packed with information I could hardly put it down. Dennis Ross has served as one of the United States Middle Eastern policy makers through four recent administrations. Ross states this is not a history of Arab-Israeli peace efforts but rather a discussio... ...more
By Jon-Erik · 􏰃􏰃􏰃􏰃􏰂 · October 31, 2015
Ross's central contentions here are that the United States' diplomacy has been guided in large part by a fear of angering Arab states that only came to fruition once in the oil embargo of 1979. Ross is a diplomat so I think he might be confusing what might make Arab states' governments angry at u... ...more
By Gil J. Bonwitt · 􏰃􏰃􏰃􏰃􏰃 · December 09, 2015
Great insight on the relationship 

Dennis Ross has a unique perspective because of his long history working on the US Israel relationship. Enjoyed hearing the different stories from a first hand source and having a strategic perspective on the relationship. Highly recommend. ...more By Harriet Brown · 􏰃􏰃􏰃􏰃􏰃 · December 16, 2015
Doomed to Succeed 

Doomed to Succeed. The U.S. Israel Relationship by Dennis Ross is a fascinating book. Any one interested in history, should read this book. ...more 

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