This pamphlet is a useful guide to the latest twist in the most significant territorial dispute of our age: the Arab-Israeli question. The IsraeliPLO Accords of September 1993 have changed, perhaps forever, our notions of the possible in the Middle East. However, as the booklet points out, initial euphoria has already been replaced with cynicism and the way ahead is by no means clear.

The booklet opens with a brief but informative look at the birth of Israel, managing rather impressively to scan two millennia of history in a few pages. Teachers will welcome the inclusion of some helpful maps and a clear storyline. Teachers of English might wince, though, at the inclusion of terms such as “a glimmer of hope”, “odious comparisons” and “a poisoned chalice”.

This is no trivial point. Granted that much of the debate, before and after the September Accords, has been conducted in cliches, it seems especially unfortunate that they should have intruded so noticeably throughout this publication. It is the more surprising since the general language level is pitched high: the less able student will find some of it inaccessible.

There are interesting sections on the negotiations which preceded the Accords, together with lengthy extracts from the agreements themselves. These might have been shortened to facilitate their use by students, but it is helpful to have the document to hand, and the teacher could easily simplify or adapt them.

The booklet concludes with a look at the obstacles to a final peace and examines some of the possibilities that closer co-operation between Palestinians and Israelis might bring. One of the excellent maps in the middle of the booklet demonstrates these graphically.

The booklet is impressively even-handed in the attention it gives to the two sides in the dispute, and it isolates a number of issues which would form a helpful springboard for further discussion in the classroom. It is a useful stopgap until such time as a more student-friendly guide can put the issue in its wider context.