I must admit that when I first read this book, I didn't like it. As the footnotes quicklyindicate, the bulk of the research derives from secondary sources, either from the Israeli andWestern press or from FBIS/WNC translations from the Arabic press. Virtually no interviewmaterial is used—strange, indeed, when one considers that the author lives within an hourof almost all the major political actors discussed in the study. And although some reference ismade to public-opinion polls, it is disappointing that greater use has not been made of thevoluminous survey data collected by the Center for Palestine Research and Studies and theJerusalem Media and Communications Center—the richest such troves in the Arab world.