This book discusses the predicament of the Israeli peace movement, which, paradoxically, following the launching of the Oslo peace process between Israel and the Palestinians in 1993, experienced a prolonged, fatal decline in membership, activity, political significance, and media visibility. After presenting the regional and national background to the launching of the peace process and a short history of Israeli peace activism, the book focuses on external and internal processes and interactions experienced by the peace movement, after some basic postulates of its agenda were actually, although never explicitly, embraced by the Rabin government. The book concludes that, despite its organizational decline and the zero credit given to it by the policy makers, in retrospect it appears that the movement contributed significantly to the integration of new ideas for possible solutions to the Middle East conflict in the Israeli mainstream political discourse.

'If peace is important to you - or scares you - Tamar Hermann’s hard-nosed assessment of the Israeli peace movement is a must-read. Many of its policy positions have been internalized by much of the public, yet the movement has been impotent in creating the momentum to bring about peace. Hermann’s solid analysis reminds us that being right (correct) on the left demands hard work and political skill.'

Asher Arian - Israel Democracy Institute and City University of New York

'A thorough and theoretically and empirically based - as well as extremely well-informed - analysis, Hermann’s book will certainly stand out as the definitive work on the Israeli peace movement. The author’s sensitivity to the nuances, dilemmas, and complexities of the peace movement in periods of dramatically changing circumstances provides a unique and insightful as well as comprehensive study.'

Galia Golan - Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya

'Professor Tamar Hermann has written a penetrating analysis of the difficulties faced by the Israeli peace movement and the reasons for its political marginalization, despite the impetus it received from the Oslo peace process. This fine book, which also pays due regard to the peace movement’s positive impact, is an important contribution to the literature on social movements and to research on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.'

Adrian Guelke - Queen’s University of Belfast

'This important book seeks to answer the paradoxical question: why did the Israeli peace movement - so critical in the 1980s in building a context and infrastructure for peace in Israel - become so ostracized and begin a fatal decline in the 1990s, just when the prospects for peace seemed brightest? Tamar Hermann assesses the obvious answer - terrorism - but goes far deeper in this rich and highly interesting study.'

Daniel C. Kurtzer - Princeton University

'Tamar Hermann provides an exhaustive and revealing study of Israel’s peace movement … [he] skilfully explores the socio-political and structural difficulties that have hindered the ability of the Israeli peace movement to emerge from the margins of Israeli politics … illuminating insights … emerge from the book …'

Source: International Affairs