Track-Two Diplomacy toward an Israeli-Palestinian Solution, 1978–2014

This book is... a personal account that is likely to remain an unrivalled source for the behind-the-scenes story.

[Track-Two Diplomacy toward an Israeli-Palestinian Solution, 1978–2014] is a valuable monograph, which the author has reconstructed from interviews with many participants, and from his unique collection of policy papers and minutes of meetings. Each chapter is framed within a rigorous structure, breaking down the stages of various ECF ventures, both successful and failed, and concluding with a balance sheet of 'lessons learned.'

Painstaking and often very personal account of over thirty years of track-two diplomatic efforts of peacemaking between Israeli and Palestinian interlocutors... Relying on countless personal papers and interviews as well as the unpublished policy documents... he [Yair Hirshfeld] reflects upon the trial and error back-channel negotiations that continued even in times of official stalemate, undeterred by violence and war.

With a tremendous amount of detail and perspective to the story of peacemaking during the past thirty years, the book fixes the historical record in substantial ways. Excellent work.

This is an extremely rich and valuable volume. The overall narrative is remarkably complete. There are also copious and detailed notes throughout, mostly pertaining to the events in which Hirschfeld participated, or at least observed, and also often bringing in relevant scholarly literature.