Arab-Israeli Conflict Tensions Between Israel Term Paper

This time Israel captured the Sinai peninsula and occupied some territories it had captured for some time (Jonah, 2002), including the Gaza Strip and the West Bank (Hanania, 2005). While Israel saw this as the rights of the victor, Arabs saw it as another land grab. Jewish settlements in these areas therefore became quite controversial. The Arabsl allied themselves once again in 1973, and once again, Israel defeated them. This made it clear that Palestinians would not regain what they viewed as their lands by force, even with the support of other Arab nations, and made negotiation a more important option for them (Ismael, 1999).

ATTEMPTS TO BRING PEACE

Meanwhile, Ahmad al-Shugayri became first chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, or PLO. his language was described as vitriolic (Jonah, 2002). Chairman Yasir Arafat, who followed, was seen as wearing Al-Shugayri's mantle, and it was decades before the PLO was recognized as a legitimate representative for the Palestinians (Jonah, 2002).

In 1967 the United Nations attempted to move the region toward peace with Security Council Resolution 242. However, the Palestinians were not part of this process, since they were not a member of the United Nations. This led to the "Gunnar Jarring MIssion from 1967-1971, but its focus, stemming from the United Nations, focused on recognized states, and focused on a Jordanian solution. This was unacceptable to Palestinians because they viewed the creation and continuance of Jordan as an example of Western interference in the Middle East (Jonah, 2002).

The Arab Lead held a summit in 1975 in Morocco. By then, the PLO had established itself as the representative for the Palestinian people. Jordan attempted once again to establish itself as the representative of the Palestinians, but failed, giving the PLO more credibility in that role (Jonah, 2002).

President Jimmy Carter helped orchestrate one of the most important steps forward in the peace process at the Camp David meeting in 1978. At that meeting, Israel acknowledged that it needed to consider the concerns of Palestinians. Until then, Israel had rejected Palestinians as coming from terrorists wht no legitimate standing (Jonah, 2002).

After Camp David in 1978, Israel itself began to recognize the necessity to tackle the Palestinian dimension of the Middle East conflict (Jonah, 2002). This was followed by peace conferences in 1991 (Madrid, Spain) and the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, which recognized the Palestinian demand for self-determination as an important part of any solution. However, another meeting at Camp David in 2000, brokered by President Bill Clinton, grappled with governance over Jerusalem and the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their former land in Israel and was less successful (Jonah, 2002). Since then, prominent Americans have continued to attempt to help bring a lasting solution to the Palestinian-Israeli problem, including George Tenet of the CIA and then Secretary of State Colin Powell (Jonah, 2002).

CONCLUSION

Ever since the first decision to partition the region in 1917, the core difficulty has not been Israel vs. Arab countries so much as whether and when Palestine would become a sovereign state with its own land and the right to self-determination (Jonah, 2002). Truly neutral observers might believe that the obvious solution is two states, one called Israel and one called Palestine. However, such a solution will require a high degree of cooperation between two groups of people with a very troubled recent history. Not only will the two groups have to set aside recent history; they will both have to let go of claims that they are entitled to the entire area because of historical events that go back more than 5,000 years. Simply stated, they need to find the will to look resolutely forward, not back. Only time will tell whether both Palestinians and Israelis can come to that point together.

SOURCES

Bennis, Phyllis. 1997. "The United Nations and Palestine: partition and its aftermath." Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ), June 22.

Friedman, Thomas. 2002. "Behind the Hatred." PR Newswire, June 4.

Hanania, Ray. 2005. "Peace plans work only if Palestinians get…