ENDERLIN, Charles 1945-

PERSONAL:

Born 1945, in Paris, France.

ADDRESSES:

Office—c/o JCS, P.O. Box 13172, 91131 Jerusalem, Israel. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Journalist and author. Worked for Israeli radio, beginning c. 1968; France-2 (television network), Jerusalem, Israel, bureau chief.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Peabody Award, and Prix de la Press Diplomatique (Ireland), both 2003, both for documentary Shattered Dreams of Peace.

WRITINGS:

Shamir, O. Orban (Paris, France), 1991.

Paix ou guerres: les secrets des négoiations Israélo-Arabes (1917-1997), Stock (Paris, France), 1997.

Le rêve briseé: histoire de l'échec du processus de paix au Proche-Orient, 1995-2002, Fayard (Paris, France), 2002, translated by Susan Fairfield as Shattered Dreams: The Failure of the Peace Process in the Middle East, 1995-2002, Other Press (New York, NY), 2003.

ADAPTATIONS:

Shattered Dreams: The Failure of the Peace Process in the Middle East, 1995-2002 was adapted as a television film produced by France-2 television and airing on Frontline, PBS, 2002.

SIDELIGHTS:

Charles Enderlin has been the Jerusalem bureau chief of France-2 television since 1990. His position as bureau chief provides Enderlin with access to meetings between Israeli and Palestinian leaders organized by U.S. President Bill Clinton in 2000. Enderlin's account of these meetings was published as the French bestseller Le rêve brisé: histoire de l'échec du processus de paix au Proche-Orient, 1995-2002. Translated into English and released in the United States in 2003 as Shattered Dreams: The Failure of the Peace Process in the Middle East, 1995-2002, the book also Dreyer said she is also planning more adventures for Maggie O'Brien served as the basis for a television documentary series shown throughout the world. Shattered Dreams of Peace, the award-winning English-language version of this series, was produced by Frontline and aired on the Public Broadcast System.

Shattered Dreams focuses on the Clinton Administration's attempts to resolve the long, violent conflict in the Middle East. In his book Enderlin traces the steps that almost led to an agreement between Israel and Palestine before negotiations collapsed as a result of a surge of suicide bombings and other violent outbreaks. The book gives details about secret Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in Sweden and provides insight into the failure of Israeli-Syrian peace talks.

Critics have praised Enderlin for his objectivity in discussing the negotiations initiated by Clinton and held at Camp David. In Library Journal, Marcia L. Sprules described Enderlin's portrayal as "more evenhanded than many press accounts, not blaming either side for the failure and showing that both made efforts and yet were reluctant to take the necessary steps." Ethan Bronner, in a New York Times book review, disliked the author's use of the first person and maintained that "the story gushes forward with little context or analysis." However, Bronner admitted in the same review that such quick movement adds to the book's authenticity. "As Enderdin moves from event to notes to taped interviews, you have the refreshing sense that you are not being spun. He is simply seeking to represent reality in its complexity," the critic explained.

Enderlin contends that only international intervention will bring peace to the Middle East. "Any agreement would have to be based on the Clinton proposals of December 2000, which foresaw Israeli withdrawal from most of the Occupied Territories, East Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state, and a solution for the holy sites of Judaism and Islam," concluded Lara Marlowe in the Irish Times.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Irish Times, January 22, 2003, Lara Marlowe, Documenting Failure of a Peace Process, p.12

Library Journal, February 15, 2003, Marcia L. Sprules, review of Shattered Dreams: The Failure of the Peace Process in the Middle East, 1995-2002, p. 155.

ONLINE

New York Times,http://nytimes.com/ (May 4, 2003), Ethan Bronner, review of Shattered Dreams: The Failure of the Peace Process in the Middle East, 1995-2002.

Shattered Dreams Home page,http://www.tolerance.ca/ (June 2003), Neil Caplan, interview with Enderlin.*