The UN's predicament : needed and sidelined -- The first Gaza War -- Endless talks about talks -- Hebron : a case study in political madness -- Hamas : the elephant in the room -- Picking olives and building the state -- Mozart in Gaza, unity tunes in Cairo -- Showdown in New York after a quartet debacle -- The Arab tempest -- Palestinian statehood at the UN amid more trouble in Gaza -- The Kerry Initiative : a last rolling of the dice? -- Entangled in Palestinian unity : almost persona non grata -- The third Gaza War : devastating consequences -- Jerusalem : the crux of the conflict -- If not two states, what else?

In this book a former United Nations Envoy offers an insider perspective on conflict management and peace efforts during the three most recent failed peace initiatives and three wars in Gaza. Robert Serry shares his reflections on walking the tight rope of diplomacy between Israel and Palestine and his analysis of what has gone wrong and why a "one-state reality" may be around the corner. Offering fresh thinking on how to preserve prospects for a two-state solution, this book examines the UN's uneasy history in the Arab-Israeli conflict since partition was proposed in resolution 181 (1948) and provides a rare insight into the life of a United Nations Envoy in today's Middle East.