From Quest, a special issue on Israelis and Palestinians seeking, building and representing peace — a historical appraisal. From The Washington Diplomat, Michael Oren, Israel’s man in Washington, bids “shalom”; Reza Pahlavi, son of Iran’s last Shah: “I am my own man”; and Najib Ghadbian went from teaching students the complexities of the Middle East at the University of Arkansas to grappling with those complexities firsthand as the Washington envoy for a coalition of rebels battling to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Starting the Revolution: Egyptian activist Ahmed Salah gives a gripping first-person account of the 2011 Tahrir Square protests that toppled the Mubarak regime. From TNR, Marc Tracy on some advice for American Jews visiting Israel: Stop ignoring Palestinians; and sire, how much would you spend to stop the next Arab Spring? The revolution that wasn’t: Hugh Roberts reviews The Rise and Fall of Arab Presidents for Life by Roger Owen; Adaptable Autocrats: Regime Power in Egypt and Syria by Joshua Stacher; Raging against the Machine: Political Opposition under Authoritarianism in Egypt by Holger Albrecht; and Soldiers, Spies and Statesmen: Egypt’s Road to Revolt by Hazem Kandil. Marilyn Booth reviews Mapping Arab Women’s Movements: A Century of Transformations from Within. No space for a middle place: Nael Shama on how genuine liberalism that allies neither with the Islamists nor the army and its regimes is a minority position in Egypt, and a friendless one.
