I would like to briefly address the contentions that Avi Raz raises in his retort to my review of his book. First, the term “negotiations” that I use refers to Raz's detailed depiction of the elaborate and almost endless stream of contacts between Israelis, Jordanians, and Palestinians that took place through various venues. Ironically, Raz continues to describe such negotiations in the second paragraph of his reply, while claiming that “there were no negotiations during the period covered by my book.” Perhaps if I had used a more general phrasing such as “talks” or “exchanges,” Raz would not have found this issue so problematic, but since these talks and exchanges were a form of negotiation I think the term is pertinent.

Second, I share Raz's conviction that Israel holds primary responsibility for the failure of the different sides to conclude a viable peace agreement during the period he discusses, and I think that Raz demonstrates this well. My main qualm was that while Raz describes and explains how Israel deliberately botched the opportunity for a compromise, the question of why it chose to do so (beyond the immediate retort that “it wanted the territory”) remains unanswered. That being said, I still find Raz's judicious and enriching research to be an important contribution to the literature that deals with Israel's occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.