Segal, Jerome M. 1943–

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Segal, Jerome M. 1943–

PERSONAL:

Born 1943. Education: University of Michigan, Ph.D.; University of Minnesota, M.P.A.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Maryland School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, 2101 Van Munching Hall, College Park, MD 20742. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

U.S. Congress, Washington, DC, aide to Congressman Donald M. Fraser and administrator of the House Budget Committee's task force on distributive impacts of economic policy, 1975-79; U.S. Agency for International Development, Washington, DC, began as coordinator for the Near East, became senior advisor for agency planning, beginning 1979; served on first American Jewish delegation to meet with leadership of Palestinian Liberation Organization, 1987; Jewish Peace Lobby, Silver Spring, MD, founder and president, 1989—. University of Maryland School of Public Policy, College Park, MD, research scholar at Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, and director of Jerusalem Project at Center for International Security Studies; has also taught philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania.

WRITINGS:

Creating the Palestinian State: A Strategy for Peace, Lawrence Hill Books (Chicago, IL), 1989.

Agency and Alienation: A Theory of Human Presence, Rowan & Littlefield (Savage, MD), 1991.

Graceful Simplicity: Toward a Philosophy and Politics of Simple Living, Holt (New York, NY), 1999, published as Graceful Simplicity: The Philosophy and Politics of the Alternative American Dream, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA), 2002.

(With Elihu Katz, Shlomit Levy, and Nader Izzat Sa'id) Negotiating Jerusalem, State University of New York Press (New York, NY), 2000.

Joseph's Bones: Understanding the Struggle between God and Mankind in the Bible, Riverhead Books (New York, NY), 2007.

Also author of monographs, including Strategic Choices Facing Palestinians in the Negotiations, Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information (Jerusalem, Israel), 1993; and Is Jerusalem Negotiable?, Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information (Jerusalem, Israel), 1997. Contributor to periodicals, including the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, and Washington Post.

SIDELIGHTS:

Jerome M. Segal is a leading expert on Israeli-Palestinian relations. In his 1989 work, Creating the Palestinian State: A Strategy for Peace, Segal outlines the steps for a two-state solution to the problem of Middle East violence. The author's proposal, ‘the division of Palestine into an Israel in pre-1967 borders and a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, is unoriginal,’ observed a contributor in the Economist. ‘The novelty lies in his method. He does not expect Israel to accept the creation of a Palestinian state, so he tells the Palestinians to build their state unilaterally, without Israeli consent, while the Israeli army is still occupying the new state's territory. The main job of this state-under-occupation would be to find bloodless ways to raise the cost of the occupation to Israel.’ Though Publishers Weekly reviewer Peggy Kaganoff remarked that Segal's plan is controversial, she also stated that ‘his work cannot be dismissed out of hand."

Negotiating Jerusalem, a 2000 work written with Elihu Katz, Shlomit Levy, and Nader Sa'id, offers findings from a parallel survey of Israeli Jews and Palestinians concerning the disputed status of the city of Jerusalem. Based on interviews conducted in 1995 and 1996, the results were originally made public in 1998. Segal and his team found that large majorities on both sides said they were opposed to negotiations on Jerusalem, though their attitudes changed when the discussion focused on different parts of the city. As Frank Tachau noted in Shofar, ‘Israelis regard Arab neighborhoods, both in the Old City and elsewhere, as less important (even dispensable) than other parts of the city. They place far more value on the Old City (especially the Jewish Quarter), the religious sites (the Temple Mount, the Western Wall), and the Mount of Olives. The Palestinian side presents a mirror image: the Old City, the Temple Mount (or Haram al-Sharif), and the Mount of Olives are considered centrally important, but Jewish neighborhoods and the Western Wall are regarded as less significant (hence dispensable).’ According to Middle East Journal contributor Michael Dumper, ‘for those who take a close interest in the negotiations over Jerusalem, the scholarship, the analysis, and the conclusions provide a welcome breath of fresh air and a solid platform for serious debate.’ In the opinion of Middle East Policy reviewer Philip C. Wilcox, Jr., ‘Segal and his coauthors deserve great credit for their work in deconstructing the myth that Jerusalem is non-negotiable. Their survey was painstaking, and the analysis is rigorous and convincing."

Segal is also the author of a number of works that examine spirituality. In Graceful Simplicity: Toward a Philosophy and Politics of Simple Living, he ‘advocates an approach to life centered on gratitude and human connection,’ reported Library Journal critic Paula Dempsey. In Joseph's Bones: Understanding the Struggle between God and Mankind in the Bible, Segal examines narratives in the Old and New Testaments concerning Joseph, the son of Jacob and Rachel. The author ‘has written a perceptive and intelligent book,’ according to George Cohen in Booklist.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 1, 1999, Brian McCombie, review of Graceful Simplicity: Toward a Philosophy and Politics of Simple Living, p. 943; March 1, 2007, George Cohen, review of Joseph's Bones: Understanding the Struggle between God and Mankind in the Bible, p. 45.

Economist, January 7, 1989, review of Creating the Palestinian State: A Strategy for Peace, p. 77.

Library Journal, May 1, 1989, David P. Snider, review of Creating the Palestinian State, p. 91; December, 1998, Paula Dempsey, review of Graceful Simplicity, p. 140; March 1, 2007, Anthony J. Elia, review of Joseph's Bones, p. 89.

Middle East Journal, spring, 2001, Michael Dumper, review of Negotiating Jerusalem, p. 337.

Middle East Policy, September, 2001, Philip C. Wilcox, review of Negotiating Jerusalem, p. 165.

Publishers Weekly, January 20, 1989, Peggy Kaganoff, review of Creating the Palestinian State, p. 142; January 4, 1999, review of Graceful Simplicity, p. 80.

Shofar, fall, 2002, Frank Tachau, review of Negotiating Jerusalem, p. 145.

Sojourners, July, 2000, Ann McClenahan, ‘Lives of Compassion and Meaning,’ review of Graceful Simplicity, p. 58.

South, April, 1990, Janice Turner, review of Creating the Palestinian State, p. 89.