Dr. Michael Sharnoff, Director of Regional Studies and Associate Professor of Middle East Studies at the Daniel Morgan Graduate School of National Security, recently released his book, Nasser’s Peace: Egypt’s Response to the 1967 War with Israel, which meticulously analyzes former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s response in the years following the 1967 War with Israel. The 50-year-old war, while militarily a loss, handed Nasser a stunning political victory and opportunity. Dr. Sharnoff’s examination of recently declassified primary sources reveals unique insight into Nasser’s post-war campaign, which was a strategic communications plot with the intent of playing the world’s superpowers off each other and twisting the world’s opinion of Israel.
Juliana Geran Pilon, from the Jewish Policy Center, recently reviewed Nasser’s Peace, which she calls “a testimony to the Egyptian leader’s skill in cynically manipulating every tool of statecraft.” Pilon praises Dr. Sharnoff’s use of recently declassified documents from Soviet and American archives to construct a full picture of Nasser’s time in power. According to Pilon, Dr. Sharnoff reveals “new details about diplomatic exchanges at the highest levels, which [Sharnoff] compares with pronouncements by Nasser’s confidant and official spokesperson Muhammad Hassanein Heikal, editor-in-chief of the popular Egyptian newspaper al-Ahram, that Nasser used in concert with other influence operations tactics.” Pilon describes Nasser’s Peace as a “thoughtful, measured book” that demonstrated the tragedy that was Nasser’s “peace,” and she emphasizes the importance of truly understanding the Arab-Israeli relationship as the new administration moves forward.
