Both accessible and authoritative, Understanding Hamas provides much-needed insight into a widely misunderstood movement whose involvement in a just resolution of the Israel/Palestine conflict will be critical.

Across Western mainstream discourse, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has been subjected to intense vilification. Branding it as terrorist or worse, this demonization intensified after the events in Southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

This book does not advocate for or against Hamas. Rather, in a series of rich and probing conversations with leading experts, it aims to deepen understanding of a movement that is a key player in the current crisis. It looks at, among other things, Hamas's critical shift from social and religious activism to national political engagement; the delicate balance between Hamas's political and military wings; and its transformation from early anti-Jewish tendencies to a stance that differentiates between Judaism and Zionism.

The Middle Eastern problem is suffused with emotion and ignorance. It is both good and important to have Cobban's perceptive and cool dissection of a truly complex issue.
Zbigniew Brezezinski Counselor, Center for Strategic and International Studies Former National Security Adviser

Middle East analyst Cobban's 'historical case study of how things were in the Israel-Syria theater during the years 1978-1989' was largely completed before Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, but the events of the past year make this book more, rather than less, relevant. . . . Cobban's focus, then, on these two heavily armed nations and their superpower relationships could hardly be more timely. Booklist

In the coalition war against Iraq following its invasion of Kuwait, the participation of Syria in the U.S.-led coalition and the restraint of Israel were important elements in the quick and successful conclusion of the war. The United States' diplomatic and military resolve, as well as the withdrawal of the Soviet Union from the international arena, helped put Syria and Israel on the same side in this effort. This was a surprising development in light of the strained state of Syrian-Israeli relations in the years leading up to 1990. Helena Cobban investigates the evolution of the military balance between Israel and Syria from 1978 through 1990, focusing on the effects of the close strategic ties that developed between these states and their respective superpower partners. The fighting in Lebanon in 1982 is closely examined, since it proved to be a key turning point for Israel and Syria--and for the superpowers parrying for influence in the Middle East region.

After an up-to-the-minute preface analyzing the effects of the Persian Gulf War on the Syrian-Israeli relationship, Cobban explores the immunity this area showed in the late 1980s to diplomatic efforts that were resolving regional conflicts elsewhere in the world, as well as the surprising overall stability of this theatre even in the absence of effective diplomacy. The arsenals of Israel and Syria, now the preeminent military powers in the Middle East after the defanging of Iraq, are still formidable. Cobban presents a formula for careful diplomacy in the 1990s that could lead to a lasting peace. This book is essential reading for political scientists, students of military engagements, and others who have an interest in the worldwide consequences of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

This is a comprehensive political analysis of the PLO. A correspondent in Beirut from 1976 to 1981, Helena Cobban has been able to study developments at close quarters and use documentary sources and first-hand recollections which have never been included in previous Western analyses of the movement. The book maintains that one key to understanding the development of the PLO is an examination of the development of its predominant member-group, Al-Fateh. The first part focuses on the history of Fateh, showing how its interests and the PLO's became intertwined. The latter part discusses the interrelations between the Fateh leadership and various factors which affect and are affected by its performance, such as the internal Palestinian opposition, the Arab milieu, and the resistance movement inside the Israeli-occupied areas. The final chapter draws together all the strands to arrive at the precise sources of the Fateh leadership's relative stability, as well as to assess its effectiveness in key areas of its operations.

In November 1998, eight visionary recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize gathered on the grounds of the University of Virginia for two days of extraordinary dialogue. From the words of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Archbishop Desmond Tutu's riveting description of chairing South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, their conversation ranged from familiar international-relations issues to areas traditionally excluded from such discourse, like the need for personal transformation and community organizing.

From the laureates' speeches and exchanges, the veteran journalist Helena Cobban has drawn a powerful, prescient vision of our shared global future. Unlike other recent books on global change, The Moral Architecture of World Peace is based on the heroic stories of nine individuals, from as varied backgrounds as Rigoberta Mench Tum and Jody Williams, who base their view of world peace on personal strength and public activism, not economic trends.

Each chapter contains one laureate's version of a shared message: that peace is grounded in the personal and spiritual as well as the economic and military dimensions of global interconnectedness. When the Dalai Lama speaks of the need for inner as well as external disarmament, he is asking for a greater commitment than the most complicated nuclear arms treaty. Along similar lines, the Northern Ireland peace activist Betty Williams tells of her hope to disarm the landmines of the heart, the bitterness that lives on in war survivors that can be more destructive than physical scars. Jody Williams and Bobby Muller, 1997 laureates, sound a concordant note in the story of their successful campaign to win an international treaty banning landmines.

Former Costa Rican president Oscar Arias S nchez, architect of the five-nation peace accord in Central America, challenges citizens of rich western countries to recognize the gap between their luxury spending and the amounts needed to fund basic human services in other parts of the world. Indigenous-rights activist Rigoberta Mench Tum and East Timorese representative Jos Ramos-Horta both lament the human and social costs paid by what Ramos-Horta calls, sorrowfully, the world's expendable peoples. Harn Yawnghwe, speaking on behalf of the Burmese democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was refused the right to travel by her government, talks of the tough issues of preparing for a transition to postauthoritarian rule in a country that has been run by a military junta.

As Helena Cobban articulates, these leaders all seem to subscribe to a broader set of truths that are not necessarily self-evident: that human beings can easily become locked into self-perpetuating systems of suspicion and violence at any level, from the interpersonal through the international; that when one is inside such a system, it can be hard to see it and to recognize one's own role within it; but that each one of us has the capacity to make a leap from self-centeredness toward greater understanding. Try to change motivation, the Dalai Lama urges.

But while these laureates' stories are primarily of personal and political triumph, they also tell of great sacrifice, conflict, and pain. Bobby Muller's passionate exchange with Archbishop Tutu on moral accountability versus reconciliation, and the self-examination of Ramos-Horta, who reflected that his own East Timorese independence movement may have hurt the chances of United States' intervention to prevent Indonesia's brutal invasion of his country, point toward the new kinds of challenges we face in the next century.

From the candor, eloquence, humor, and differences expressed by these inspiring people, Helena Cobban has sketched out a new international paradigm of peace.

The Middle Eastern problem is suffused with emotion and ignorance. It is both good and important to have Cobban's perceptive and cool dissection of a truly complex issue.
Zbigniew Brezezinski Counselor, Center for Strategic and International Studies Former National Security Adviser

Middle East analyst Cobban's 'historical case study of how things were in the Israel-Syria theater during the years 1978-1989' was largely completed before Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, but the events of the past year make this book more, rather than less, relevant. . . . Cobban's focus, then, on these two heavily armed nations and their superpower relationships could hardly be more timely. Booklist

In the coalition war against Iraq following its invasion of Kuwait, the participation of Syria in the U.S.-led coalition and the restraint of Israel were important elements in the quick and successful conclusion of the war. The United States' diplomatic and military resolve, as well as the withdrawal of the Soviet Union from the international arena, helped put Syria and Israel on the same side in this effort. This was a surprising development in light of the strained state of Syrian-Israeli relations in the years leading up to 1990. Helena Cobban investigates the evolution of the military balance between Israel and Syria from 1978 through 1990, focusing on the effects of the close strategic ties that developed between these states and their respective superpower partners. The fighting in Lebanon in 1982 is closely examined, since it proved to be a key turning point for Israel and Syria--and for the superpowers parrying for influence in the Middle East region.

After an up-to-the-minute preface analyzing the effects of the Persian Gulf War on the Syrian-Israeli relationship, Cobban explores the immunity this area showed in the late 1980s to diplomatic efforts that were resolving regional conflicts elsewhere in the world, as well as the surprising overall stability of this theatre even in the absence of effective diplomacy. The arsenals of Israel and Syria, now the preeminent military powers in the Middle East after the defanging of Iraq, are still formidable. Cobban presents a formula for careful diplomacy in the 1990s that could lead to a lasting peace. This book is essential reading for political scientists, students of military engagements, and others who have an interest in the worldwide consequences of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

A compelling read. Richard J. Goldstone, former Chief Prosecutor of the UN tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda A very important contribution. Princeton N. Lyman, Council on Foreign Relations A powerful reminder that dealing with the legacy of wartime atrocities is not simply a matter of bringing perpetrators to justice. It also means overcoming the divisions within the society and healing the victims. Marina Ottaway, Senior Associate, Democracy and Rule of Law Project, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace In Amnesty after Atrocity? veteran journalist Helena Cobban examines the effectiveness of different ways of dealing with the aftermath of genocide and violence committed during intergroup conflicts. She traveled to Rwanda, Mozambique, and South Africa to assess the various ways those nations tried to come to grips with their violent past: from war crimes trials to truth commissions to outright amnesties for perpetrators. She discovered that in terms of both moving forward and satisfying the needs of survivors, war crimes trials are not the most effective path. This book provides historical context and includes interviews with a cross-section of people: community leaders, victims, policymakers, teachers, rights activists, and even some former abusers. These first-person accounts create a rich, readable text, and Cobban's overall conclusions will surprise many readers in the West.

A veteran international journalist gives us a concise, readable guide that provides a new vision for the United States in the global community. Since 9/11, the United States has pursued a foreign policy some have called a control paradigm-a unilateral domination of world affairs through military means that tries to keep the lid on insecurity without addressing root causes or protecting human rights. The Bush administration's energetic use of this approach has ripped the fabric of America's relationship with the rest of the world. In this concise guide, veteran journalist Helena Cobban proposes moving the United States away from the control paradigm to a policy of global inclusion. Global inclusion seeks to repair the U.S. relationship with other countries, recommit the United States to effective participation in the United Nations and other multilateral institutions, and ground U.S. foreign policy firmly in the principle of human equality. It also involves moving away from the language of threats and fear to a language of challenge and possibility. This book outlines how a global inclusion policy would address key challenges faced not only by Americans but by the 95 percent of humanity who are not Americans: - Challenges of terrorism and weapons proliferation. - Growing global inequality. - Rights abuses worldwide. - Climate change. - Shifting international power balances. Cobban reminds readers we do not need to do any of these things alone. Since 9/11, she has traveled to 18 foreign countries on four continents. She has heard how deep the desire is among people in China, sub-Saharan Africa, the Muslim world, Europe, and elsewhere for the United States to rejoin the world community on a sound and cooperative basis. In heartfelt, accessible prose with highly readable tables, graphics, websites, and other resources, she shows how we can re-engage as neighbors, as a country, and as a trusted international partner.

This book provides a vivid and readable account of Lebanon's development since its first emergence in 1585, unravelling the intricacies of the sectarian/religious groups and the special kinds of communities which have sunk 900-year-old roots in the remote fastnesses of the Mount Lebanon interior.

A veteran international journalist gives us a concise, readable guide that provides a new vision for the United States in the global community. Since 9/11, the United States has pursued a foreign policy some have called a control paradigm-a unilateral domination of world affairs through military means that tries to keep the lid on insecurity without addressing root causes or protecting human rights. The Bush administration's energetic use of this approach has ripped the fabric of America's relationship with the rest of the world. In this concise guide, veteran journalist Helena Cobban proposes moving the United States away from the control paradigm to a policy of global inclusion. Global inclusion seeks to repair the U.S. relationship with other countries, recommit the United States to effective participation in the United Nations and other multilateral institutions, and ground U.S. foreign policy firmly in the principle of human equality. It also involves moving away from the language of threats and fear to a language of challenge and possibility. This book outlines how a global inclusion policy would address key challenges faced not only by Americans but by the 95 percent of humanity who are not Americans: - Challenges of terrorism and weapons proliferation. - Growing global inequality. - Rights abuses worldwide. - Climate change. - Shifting international power balances. Cobban reminds readers we do not need to do any of these things alone. Since 9/11, she has traveled to 18 foreign countries on four continents. She has heard how deep the desire is among people in China, sub-Saharan Africa, the Muslim world, Europe, and elsewhere for the United States to rejoin the world community on a sound and cooperative basis. In heartfelt, accessible prose with highly readable tables, graphics, websites, and other resources, she shows how we can re-engage as neighbors, as a country, and as a trusted international partner.

This book provides a vivid and readable account of Lebanon's development since its first emergence in 1585, unravelling the intricacies of the sectarian/religious groups and the special kinds of communities which have sunk 900-year-old roots in the remote fastnesses of the Mount Lebanon interior.

A compelling read. Richard J. Goldstone, former Chief Prosecutor of the UN tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda A very important contribution. Princeton N. Lyman, Council on Foreign Relations A powerful reminder that dealing with the legacy of wartime atrocities is not simply a matter of bringing perpetrators to justice. It also means overcoming the divisions within the society and healing the victims. Marina Ottaway, Senior Associate, Democracy and Rule of Law Project, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace In Amnesty after Atrocity? veteran journalist Helena Cobban examines the effectiveness of different ways of dealing with the aftermath of genocide and violence committed during intergroup conflicts. She traveled to Rwanda, Mozambique, and South Africa to assess the various ways those nations tried to come to grips with their violent past: from war crimes trials to truth commissions to outright amnesties for perpetrators. She discovered that in terms of both moving forward and satisfying the needs of survivors, war crimes trials are not the most effective path. This book provides historical context and includes interviews with a cross-section of people: community leaders, victims, policymakers, teachers, rights activists, and even some former abusers. These first-person accounts create a rich, readable text, and Cobban's overall conclusions will surprise many readers in the West.