This study by Emile A. Nakhleh will raise new questions in the
Middle East debate. Paradoxically, though there is considerable public
comment and controversy about the West Bank and Gaza Strip, there
is also a persistent lack of public knowledge about the area. It is
now occupied territory, under Israel's military control, but the vast
majority of its inhabitants are Arabs, many of whom have lived there
for centuries. They have their own structure of public and private
institutions, and, in more academic terms, it may be said that an
indigenous "political system" already functions there, though there
continues to be substantial ignorance of that fact. Professor Nakhleh
provides us with new knowledge about it.

The Arab institutions on the West Bank and in Gaza, which
still operate under outmoded Jordanian and British mandate laws as
well as the exigencies of the current military occupation, are not
functioning as well as they could. Professor Nakhleh presents
abundant interviews with key West Bank and Gaza leaders about
the present state of these institutions and their potential for self-
government in the future as part of a peace settlement. These inter-
views were conducted before the Camp David accords of September
1978, but a quick trip by Professor Nakhleh to the West Bank in
October revealed no changes in basic attitudes. Those who read this
study may find some of it disquieting. I hope this is the case. In
international affairs, we gain nothing by ignoring those with whom
we must negotiate on key issues affecting our own survival, no
matter how alien their perceptions might be to our policy preferences.

This study is part of a projected series on Arab and Israeli views
of the West Bank and Gaza. Though not technically part of this
series a relevant volume will be published in Jerusalem, by the