Just over 100 years ago, Theodor Herzl launched the Zionist Movement. They called for a Jewish State in their ancestral land, Palestine. Fifty years later, the State of Israel came into being. Israel was established so that Jews anywhere in the world could have a homeland of their own. After independence, that process began with the in gathering of three quarters of a million Jews from Arab lands. As Communism disintegrated, more than a million Jews emigrated from the Soviet Union. Despite war and terror, Israel has sought peace through both secret and public negotiations. These efforts continue to this day, despite two major Palestinian uprisings.

Was it possible to achieve peace between Jews and Arabs in Palestine in the 1930s? This study discusses the Fifth Avenue muti-millionaires who believed they could bring peace to the Middle East through secret diplomacy and a generous dose of "Baksheesh" (the Arabic word for bribery).