Middle East Conflict

Biographer Andrew Gowers. He's co-written (with Tony Walker) a new biography of Yasser Arafat, "Behind the Myth: Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Revolution." (Olive Branch Press). The book explores Arafat's nearly 40 years as a Palestinian activist. Gowers and his co-author spent hundreds of hours interviewing PLO officials, including Arafat, as well as American, Arab and European officials. Gowers is a Features Editor of the Financial Times and was the paper's Middle East Editor. He comments frequently on the Middle East for British radio and TV.

Columnist Rami Khouri. Khouri, a Palestinian Jordanian, is the former editor-in-chief of the Jordan Times newspaper and is now columnist there.

Terry Anderson and his wife Madeleine Bassil. Anderson was held hostage for seven years in Lebanon. Madeleine was pregnant when he was Anderson's new book, "Den of Lions: Memoirs of Seven Years" (Crown Publishers), Terry and Madeleine describe the challenges they were forced to face until his release in December of 1991. (This interview continues into the second half of the show.)

Middle East expert and British hostage in Beirut, Terry Waite. While in Lebanon in 1987, as an Anglican Church envoy to negotiate the release of hostages there, Waite himself was captured. He was held for 1,763 days (nearly five years); four years of that time was spent in solitary confinement. He had made numerous trips to the Middle East to negotiate hostage releases in Tehran and Beirut, and was no stranger to the danger of factional conflicts: in 1969 Waite and his wife narrowly escaped the Idi Amin coup in Uganda.

Israeli peace activist and novelist Amos Oz. He lived on a kibbutz for many years and is a veteran of the Six-Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Oz is a leading acivist for peace between the Arabs and the Israelis. His new book is called "Fima" (Harcourt Brace), he has written eleven novels in all. Amos Oz received the German Publishers Peace Prize in 1992.

Political writer and correspondent in the Middle East for the New Yorker, Milton Viorst. Terry will talk with him about the massacre last week in the mosque in the West bank, and it's affect on the peace process between Israel and the P.L.O. They'll also discuss his new book "Sandcastles: The Arabs in Search of The Modern World" (Knopf). Called by one commentator "a psychological and social tour of the Arab people and the wondrous cities they live in", "Sandcastles" features VIORST's travels in Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon.

Israeli political scientist Ehud Sprinzak. Sprinzak has written a book called "The Ascendance of Israel's Radical Right" (Oxford University Press 1991). He follows the emergence in Israel since 1984 of a radical right-wing movement shaped by religious fundamentalism, extreme nationalism and aggressive anti-Arab sentiment. Sprinzak believes that the influence of the radical right pervades Israeli politics and culture as well as Arab-Israeli relation. He sees Israel's radical right exercising increasing control over the Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

Thomas Friedman is a Middle East correspondent for "The New York Times," and author of the Pulitzer-Prize winning book "From Beirut to Jerusalem." He'll talk about last week's pact between Israel and Jordan.

Journalist and professor Fred Halliday. He's a professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics, and has written extensively on the Cold War and the Third World for "The Nation," and "The Middle East Report." He'll talk about the possible threat of another military showdown in Iraq.

Journalist Youseff Ibrahim, reporter at "The New York Times" since 1977. He talks about the current situation in Israel and the Occupied Territories.

Journalist Youseff Ibrahim, reporter at "The New York Times" since 1977. He has been the regional Middle East correspondent for the paper for seven years. He talks about the current debates among Arab intellectuals about the current political and cultural trends in the region.

New York Times defense correspondent Michael Gordon and retired Marine Corps General Bernard Trainor. They have collaborated on a book about the Persian Gulf War, called "The General's War: The Inside Story of the Conflict in the Gulf." The book examines why the war was "an incomplete success."

Hanan Mikhail-Ashrwai, former spokesperson for the PLO from 1991 to 1993. Ashrawi was the chief spokesperson for the Palestinian delegation at the Middle East peace negotiations. There are two books about her life and her role in the peace process: her personal account, This Side of Peace, and A Voice of Reason: Hanan Ashrawi and Peace in the Middle East by Barbara Victor.

Award-winning Israeli journalist Danny Rubinstein. He has a new book called The Mystery of Arafat (Steerforth Press) which looks into the image of the P-L-O leader, Yasser Arafat. Rubinstein is a columnist for the Hebrew daily Ha'aretz and has been writing on Palestinian issues since 1967. He is also the author of the book The People of Nowhere. Rubinstein presently lives in Jerusalem where he teaches in the department of Middle East History at Ben-Gurion University.

Writer Yossi Klein Halevi is a senior writer for "The Jerusalem Report." He's the author of Memoirs of A Jewish Extremist: An American Story, (Little, Brown) which tells the story of his involvement with Jewish right-wing movements in the United States, and with the extremist rabbi Meir Kahane. Halevi eventually broke away from the movement.

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. Friedman spent the last decade covering the Middle East, work that won him two Pulitzer Prizes. His book, From Beirut to Jerusalem has recently been updated, to include information on the Peace Process. It's now available in paperback. The book looked at the inside of Arab and Israeli power circles, and examined the Intifada and the perceptions American and Israeli Jews have of each other.

Ze'ev Chafets columnist for "The Jerusalem Report," a news magazine published in Israel. Chafets is an Israeli who grew up in Pontiac, Michigan. He was the director of the government press office under prime minister Menachem Begin. He's also the author of several novels.

The grand-daughter of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Noa Ben Artzi-Pelossof. During the his funeral Noa gave a moving tribute to the grandfather she knew as opposed to the political leader the world knew. She's written a new memoir, "In the Name of Sorrow and Hope," (Knopf).

Oz is a veteran of the Six-Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War in 1973, and is a leading activist for peace between the Arabs and the Israelis. He's written his 11th novel, "Don't Call it Night." Oz received the German Publishers Peace Prize in 1992. Terry will also talk with him about the latest violence in the Middle East.

Chaim Herzog was President of Israel 1983-1993. He served as Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations in the 1970's. He has been involved and present for almost all of the great and tragic events in Israeli history. In addition to being President, he has been, a soldier, a journalist and an author. Herzog was born in Ireland in 1918, where his father was the Chief Rabbi. He has written a memoir documenting his experiences in Israel and dealing with Arab, Israeli, and American leaders, called "Living History."