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by Landrum Bolling (Author)
From the foreword by Amb. Philip Wilcox, Jr.: I know of no other American who can equal Landrum Bolling's forty years of commitment to and dedicated personal involvement in peace between Israelis and Palestinians. This brief book of deeply informed reflection and analysis is based on Bolling's unique and distinguished career as a citizen-peacemaker, a friend of and advisor to many American, Israeli and Palestinian statesmen, a philanthropic and humanitarian leader, and a constant advocate for a just Israel-Palestine peace. His efforts have touched the lives of many. Bolling's book is a valuable review, beginning a century ago, of the competing struggles for nationhood, sovereignty, and security between Jews and Palestinians over the same land, to which both peoples are profoundly attached. In readable prose, it combines an efficient summary of diplomatic history with rich personal anecdotes that illustratrate Bolling's analysis. The author's deep friendships with many leading Israeli and Palestinian activists and his respect and sympathy for the struggles of both peoples give this book special authenticity and credibility on a subject that, alas, has produced too much strident partisanship and too few prescriptions for peace. Ending the Israel-Palestinian Conflict breaks new and controversial ground on advocating a permanent solution to the conflict. It commands attention.
Author Biography
Over the course of his long lifetime, Landrum Bolling has gained exceptional experience in international conflict resolution and in facilitating dialogue between members of different religions, cultures and ethnicities. His deep Quaker faith has shaped his life and work for peace and justice around the world. Trained as a political scientist at the University of Tennessee and the University of Chicago, Bolling served on the faculties of Beloit College, Brown University and Earlham College, where he was president for 15 years. He also served as president of the Lilly Endowment, one of the largest grant-making foundations in the world, and as chief executive officer of the Council on Foundations. Bolling was an Adjunct Professor in the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. Bolling began his career in journalism, as a war correspondent in Europe during World War II, and has since written, co-authored, and edited numerous volumes. Bolling's first book, Search for Peace in the Middle East, published by the American Friends Service Committee in 1970, initiated his lifelong quest to help bring about peace in the Holy Land between Israelis and Palestinians. In pursuit of this goal Bolling personally worked with many of the political and social leaders in the Middle East, met in the White House with President Nixon, and served as an unofficial interlocutor between President Carter and Yasser Arafat. Bolling has worked extensively with Mercy Corps, an international humanitarian agency, as director-at-large and as a senior advisor since the 1980s. For three years Bolling was stationed in Sarajevo as the Mercy Corps representative in the Balkans. From 1983-88, he was the president and rector at the Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Jerusalem. He is also a senior advisor and board member of the Conflict Management Group in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy in Washington, D.C. In recognition of his lifetime of work on behalf of international conflict resolution, Bolling has received more than thirty honorary doctorates from US and foreign universities.
