For several decades America's foreign policy in the Middle East and elsewhere has operated under a single, overwhelming principle: support for Israel. What jeopardises both the United States' and Israel's national and strategic interests is not this support, but America's involvement with the Israel lobby: a loose coalition of right-wing individuals and organizations that actively work to shape US foreign policy. The Middle East seems set to remain a deeply troubled arena for at least another generation: this book helps explain why this is the case and what needs to be done to encourage a lasting peace.

John J Mearsheimer,Stephen M Walt