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Despite an array of formulas for peace put forth during his administration, President Bush and his policy-making team have been almost totally uninterested in involving the United States in any serious effort to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The quick demise of all peace initiatives--each of which succumbed to the administration's focus on terrorism rather than on Israel's occupation as the root of the conflict--is testimony to the Bush team's near total identification with Israel's interests. This article examines the Bush administration's bias toward Israel and the factors influencing that approach: Bush's own willful ignorance of the situation on the ground and lack of concern for Palestinian grievances, his apparent personal rapport with Ariel Sharon, and the strong domestic political pressures on him, including from the pro-Israel lobby, Congress, neoconservatives, and the fundamentalist Christian lobby. All these factors combine to make any U.S. pressures on Israel highly unlikely.

Past administrations have always emphasized process over substance in shaping American policy on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. During George Bush's and Bill Clinton's administrations, the shaping policy came of age politically through the formation of a team led by special mediator Dennis Ross. However, most of the policymakers had Jewish roots and were more naturally inclined to view the issue from the traditional Israel-centered vantage point.

by Lawrence Davidson. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2001. 222 pages, notes to 252, bibliography to 257, index to 264. $55.00, hardcover. Midway through Lawrence Davidson's meticulous history of the [...]