Our Last Best Chance [Book Review]

”Our Last Best Chance”, King Abdullah II’s new book, discusses that the two-state solution in its Arab Peace Initiative formulation should be pushed for during Obama’s current presidential term, urgently. This message is expressed in explicit and sharp terms in the preface to the book, but never fails to show up in virtually every chapter of the 27 that follow, even in the acknowledgment, although in different expressive forms.

The book takes of King Abdullah’s II life a chronologically ordered backbone, and the Arab-Israeli conflict a backdrop. The conflict is also depicted as the mother of all troubles in the Middle East and the Arab and Muslim worlds, with subsequent tremors felt in the West. Actually the book is a selective narration of the memories which pertain to this context, mostly. Although to be fair, I felt there was a higher level of conscious selection within this first one.

Each chapter is written in a way that aims to an arrival, from the side of the reader, at the logical conclusion that by settling this sensitive issue, which can only be achieved through a fair two states solution, extremists on both sides of the conflict equation will be culled, and the region will prosper like never seen before. Failing to do so, according to the King, will only mean dealing with diabolical consequences, the direst of which is an "inevitable" devastating regional war.

However, it does not go without some criticism from my side. First of all, and although the King seems to be extremely furious with the Israelis, accusing them of killing almost every precious chance of peace that came their way in the past few decades, he sounds a bit too apologetic on behalf of the Americans. I mean if a Martian who has no idea about Earth read the book, she will come to conclude that USA is Earth's ultimate superpower, but which is unfortunately plagued by a dysfunctional intelligence agency; USA is claimed to have been easily fooled by Israel during critical previous historical moments.

I am also expecting that the King will draw heavy criticism for his support of the American goals in the region; if not support, he at least seems not to mind them, even though he makes it clear that he is against the Iranian "expansionist policies" in the Arab world. I think King Abdullah's handling of this issue of the Arab states sovereignty (a main generator of vicious previous conflicts in the region) was not given considerable thought.

My third take on is the obvious lack of references, except in two separate instances. It is understandable that the book is not written for an academic audience, and that it is personal in essence and thus expected to have a subjective tone, but when one is intertwining his own memoirs with propounded interpretations of what seems to be one of the most highly pluralistic realities in the history of humanity, it is necessary that these claims be backed up if the book is to be taken seriously.

I will conclude this post with pointing out a factual error in the book by saying that the Late King Hussien's Jubilee school is the first coeducational boarding school for talented students in the Middle East - Not King’s Academy - unless King Abdullah II does not consider Abdoun and Shafa Badran to be part of the region.