Can You Just Read Books and Make Peace in the Middle East?

The news of peace in the Middle East is a joy to the world. Even as the deal slowly creeps forward, it really seems as though this 20-point plan will provide a path forward for Israel and Gaza and continue the work of the Abraham Accords.

For our purposes, though, there’s a bookish thread running through this deal. Jared Kushner, who has been at the center of the negotiations, is not a career diplomat or a historian. He’s a real estate investor and private equity chief who, five years ago, said he read 25 books to understand the Middle East. In an interview on 60 Minutes this week, he and Steve Witkoff proclaimed themselves “deal guys.” Since then, he’s been mocked and ridiculed for that statement, but book readers want to know: which 25 books did he read??

Kushner has never released that full list but has mentioned some books worth reading over the years. In his interview with Lex Fridman, he mentioned Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall, an innovative look at the world through a series of regional chapters on geography, resources, cultural faultlines, and historical trends. This is a great book for anyone who wants to get up to speed on how the world’s geography affects politics.

Here are a few others he or those close to him have mentioned:

- Thirteen Days in September: The Dramatic Story of the Struggle for Peace by Lawrence Wright – A detailed day-by-day account of the 1978 Camp David Accords between Anwar Sadat, Menachem Begin, and Jimmy Carter.

- Hamas vs. Fatah: The Struggle for Palestine by Jonathan Schanzer – A study of the internal Palestinian political divide between the two major factions.

- State of Failure: Yasser Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas, and the Unmaking of the Palestinian State by Jonathan Schanzer – Focuses on Palestinian leadership and governance issues.

- The Last Palestinian by Grant Rumley & Amir Tibon – A biography of Mahmoud Abbas, which Kushner’s team says was “dog-eared with sticky notes.”

When it came out in 2022, I read Kushner’s memoir of his time in the White House, Breaking History, and found it to be an insightful look at the issues he worked on in the Trump administration. I also wrote down all the other books he mentioned:

- Coming Apart by Charles Murray – a sociological look at the dividing classes in American life, and a prediction of the populist surge leading up to 2016.

- The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency by Chris Whipple – the best book I’ve come across describing the history and nature of the President’s chief of staff, from H. R. Haldeman to John Kelly

- Death by China: Confronting the Dragon - A Global Call to Action by Peter Navarro – Trump’s trade advisor in the first term and a long-time China hawk lays out his prescription for how the U.S. should deal with China in the 21st century.

- The Art of War by Sun Tzu – the classic eastern manual on life, war, competition, and politics.

- Diplomacy by Henry Kissinger – though their styles are very different, Kushner has been compared to Kissinger in recent weeks. This is Kissinger’s magnum opus on negotiation, detante, and realpolitik.

- The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, The West, and The Future of the Holy City by Dore Gold – a former ambassador to the U.S. from Israel, Gold chronicles the centuries-long struggle between Muslims and Jews in Jerusalem.

- Palestine: Peace not Apartheid by Jimmy Carter - the Carter administration negotiated the Camp David Accords, establishing peace between Israel and Egypt. Zbigniew Brzezinski was Carter’s National Security Advisor and the visionary behind the peace plan.

- The Hundred Year Marathon: China’s Secret Strategy to Replace America as the Global Superpower by Michael Pillsbury - another China hawk, Pillsbury’s book has been extremely influential among the Trump team, covering China’s plans to weaken the U.S. and establish itself as the global superpower.

So, maybe it isn’t quite so easy as reading 25 books about the Middle East. But this list of Jared Kushner recommendations is a great place to start.

Let us know what you would add! Find our other books on the Middle East in our online catalog.