Title: In the Path of Abraham
By Jason D. Greenblatt
Simon and Schuster, 240 pages
“In the Path of Abraham” is Jason Greenblatt’s account of his work on Middle East policy as special representative for international negotiations under President Donald Trump.
As a Zionist educator, I found this book helpful to my understanding of how a Zionist working for the president of the United States on Middle East issues perceived the situation there. Whether or not the reader approves of Trump’s policies towards Israel, the principles explained in Greenblatt’s book provide an insight into how Zionism is being applied as Israel reaches her 75th year.
I remember being with a group of students in November 2017 as Jason Greenblatt came out of the West Wing of the White House and graciously came over to talk to us as we stood between the West Wing and Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Greenblatt had just returned from a trip to the Middle East where he had met with the Israelis and the Palestinians. He earned generous media praise for his perceived sympathies to Israel, yet was also praised by Palestinian leaders for listening to them honestly and with an open mind.
Our group recognized the unique opportunity we had to directly ask Greenblatt if he actually believed the Palestinians and Mahmoud Abbas wanted peace. Greenblatt told our students that he had met with Abbas and was convinced Abbas actually wanted peace with Israel. I was never sure if Greenblatt was telling us what he really felt, or just repeating the party line.
After completing Greenblatt’s book, I’m convinced that he came to his job hoping Abbas and the Palestinians wanted peace, but after three years of negotiating between Israelis and Palestinians he was much more skeptical of Palestinian sincerity. As Greenblatt wrote, “Arafat has become irrelevant to any solution to the conflict, hardly being mentioned in the White House.” Greenblatt then wrote, “I think President Abbas has it within him to not suffer the same fate [as Arafat]. The question is, does he have the courage to leave a lasting legacy? I don’t know the answer to that question, but sadly, more and more, I think the answer is, no.”
Greenblatt’s book begins with a history of the Israeli-Arab-Palestinian conflict, setting forth the principles he and the Trump administration were guided by during Trump’s time in office. Their policy, as Greenblatt explains, was reality based, focusing on what the administration felt was true, not what they wanted to be true. As Greenblatt repeats throughout the book, Trump challenged the notion that America has to be an honest broker that is indifferent to its ally’s interests against its Arab neighbors; instead, he felt that America should be a smart broker. This should give students of Israel and Zionism food for thought about America’s relationship with Israel and how Israel is affected by America’s changing attitudes.
Greenblatt explains that there’s no value in treating both sides equally if one side is acting dishonestly and corruptly. When Israel was attacked by Hamas rocket fire and retaliated with missiles, he saw it as more important to criticize Hamas for rocket fire and support Israel’s right to defend itself than to repeat the usual call for both sides to lower tensions and to demand that Israel act proportionally.
Greenblatt makes some very good points, writing that the peace process has become more about the process itself than about creating results. In the business world (Greenblatt’s original career), when a process isn’t achieving results, it is changed or shelved. Yet after 30 years of the same failed process, “experts” remain committed to the same process with even more fervor. Greenblatt recalls how his team quickly realized the State Department experts could easily recall their failed past attempts but had trouble coming up with new ideas that could produce actual results. This perspective can give Zionists pause as they compare different approaches to the Zionist value of peace.
The value of Greenblatt’s book is not only that it offers an insider’s look at the Trump Administration’s policies in the Middle East but that it also serves as essential reading for students of the Middle East, the Israeli-Arab-Palestinian conflict and Zionism. Even the reader who doesn’t agree with every Middle East policy of the Trump administration will want to read the book and consider Greenblatt’s understanding, as many of his ideas are nuanced and thought-provoking. I highly recommend reading it and believe it has earned its place in the library of scholarly works dealing with the Middle East.
