This work presents a comprehensive analytic survey of United States policy towards the question of Palestine over a fifty- year period. It describes the attitude of complete identification with Zionism and Israel that marked U.S. policy throughout this period, and shows how this attitude manifested itself in uninterrupted support for the Zionist project during three historical phases: the emergence of a Jewish national home, the creation of the state of Israel, and support for Israel after its...

This work presents a comprehensive analytic survey of United States policy towards the question of Palestine over a fifty- year period. It describes the attitude of complete identification with Zionism and Israel that marked U.S. policy throughout this period, and shows how this attitude manifested itself in uninterrupted support for the Zionist project during three historical phases: the emergence of a Jewish national home, the creation of the state of Israel, and support for Israel after its establishment. The study argues that the determining factor of this policy has been the total commitment of successive U.S. administrations, both Democratic and Republican, to the Zionist cause, which can be traced back to the Wilson administration and its support for the Balfour Declaration in 1918. Moreover, this basic commitment can in turn be ascribed to: personal relationships between U.S. presidents and Zionist leaders, electoral considerations, and the advice of foreign policy aides. The author holds that the emotional commitment of the American people to Israel, and the corresponding negative attitude towards the Palestinians, has given successive presidents the freedom to pursue the policies that were seen to advance U.S. interests in the region. In response, the author claims that this foreign policy is based on the mistaken assumption that U.S. and Israeli interests coincide in the Middle East. Finally, the book shows how U.S. policy has led to a deeping of animosity in the region, has driven the Arabs into a cycle of violence, and has led to the exile and dispossession of the Palestinian people.