The main thing that Telhami brings to the table is some experience in
polling Arabs in the Middle East. He marshalls sufficient evidence to
make the case that Arab opposition to Americans is policy-driven and
has little (if anything) to do with cultural factors -- envy of American
freedom, etc. This isn't much of a revelation -- Jedediah Purdy figured
out the same thing just chatting with young professionals in Cairo.
Telhami also has polls from elsewhere in the world which pretty much
reveal the same thing, and point out that Arabs are not even all that
exceptional in their low opinion of US policy. One weak spot in the
book is his discussion of the Barak phase of the Oslo negotiations,
which he sees as floundering on the issue of Jerusalem. Tanya Reinhardt
and others have argued that Jerusalem was a relatively minor issue, but
that the resolution of the refugee problem was much more significant.
That's always been my impression as well. But in general Telhami's
analyses and proposals are relatively sensible.
The main thing that Telhami brings to the table is some experience in
polling Arabs in the Middle East. He marshalls sufficient evidence to
make the case that Arab opposition to Americans is policy-driven and
has little (if anything) to do with cultural factors -- envy of American
freedom, etc. This isn't much of a revelation -- Jedediah Purdy figured
out the same thing just chatting with young professionals in Cairo.
Telhami also has polls from elsewhere in the world which pretty much
reveal the same thing, and point out that Arabs are not even all that
exceptional in their low opinion of US policy. One weak spot in the
book is his discussion of the Barak phase of the Oslo negotiations,
which he sees as floundering on the issue of Jerusalem. Tanya Reinhardt
and others have argued that Jerusalem was a relatively minor issue, but
that the resolution of the refugee problem was much more significant.
That's always been my impression as well. But in general Telhami's
analyses and proposals are relatively sensible.