Den­nis Ross, the chief Mid­dle East peace nego­tia­tor in the pres­i­den­tial admin­is­tra­tions of George H. W. Bush and Bill Clin­ton, is that rare fig­ure who is respect­ed by all par­ties: Democ­rats and Repub­li­cans, Pales­tini­ans and Israelis, pres­i­dents and peo­ple on the street in Jerusalem, Ramal­lah, and Wash­ing­ton, D.C.

The Miss­ing Peace is far and away the most can­did inside account of the Mid­dle East peace process ever pub­lished. The maneu­ver­ings of both sides, and of the Unit­ed States as well, are described. For the first time, the back­room nego­ti­a­tions, the dra­mat­ic and often secre­tive nature of the process, and the rea­sons for its fal­ter­ing are on dis­play for all to see.

Ross recounts the peace process in detail from 1988 to the break­down of talks in ear­ly 2001 that prompt­ed the so-called sec­ond Intifa­da. It’s all here: Camp David, Oslo, Gene­va, Egypt, and oth­er sum­mits; the assas­si­na­tion of Yitzak Rabin; the rise and fall of Ben­jamin Netanyahu; the very dif­fer­ent char­ac­ters and strate­gies of Rabin, Yasir Arafat, and Bill Clin­ton; and the first steps of the Pales­tin­ian Authority.

The issues Ross explains with unmatched clar­i­ty – nego­ti­a­tions over bor­ders, Israeli secu­ri­ty, the Pales­tin­ian ​“right of return” – are the issues behind today’s head­lines. The Miss­ing Peace explains, as no oth­er book has, why Mid­dle East peace is so dif­fi­cult to achieve.