It is amazing how many people believe that Israeli - Arab peace talks have always been
a failure, but this is simply not correct.
It is true that Israelis and Palestinians have not solved their conflict, but Israel’s
willingness to compromise and give up land for peace has led to both Arab-Israeli peace
deals and historic breakthroughs with the Palestinians.
The idea of ‘land for peace’ to solve the Israeli-Arab conflict first emerged after
the 6 Day War in 1967 when Israel captured -
The Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip from Egypt.
The Golan Heights from Syria.
And what was known as the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan.
Israel’s victory transformed the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Before and after Israel’s establishment in 1948, its Arab neighbours were united by
a shared commitment to destroy Israel.
But after 1967 those countries realised they couldn’t defeat Israel shifted their focus
to regaining the territories that were lost during the war.
The international community tried to find a formula to resolve the conflict.
After months of discussion, the UN Security Council passed ‘Resolution 242’ which
said there should be Israeli territorial withdrawal on the one hand, and recognition of Israel’s
right to exist in ‘secure and recognised boundaries’ on the other.
242 established the idea of land for peace, and that in order to solve the conflict between
Israel and its neighbours they should balance competing claims through negotiation.
At first the Arab states rejected the idea and the Arab League explicitly rejected peace,
recognition and negotiations with Israel.
Fast-forward to 1979 and Israel and Egypt reached a peace agreement based on land for
peace.
Israel withdrew from the Sinai, and evacuated towns and villages it built there.
Israel’s peace treaty with Jordan in 1994 also involved land for peace as the negotiations
included a creative solution to hand over territory close to the Jordan River and lease
it back.
Land for peace was also a vital element of Israel’s ground breaking 1993 agreement
with the PLO, the representative of the Palestinian people, referred to as the Oslo Accords - named
after the location of where the secret negotiations took place.
In 1994 Israel withdrew from Palestinian towns and cities in Gaza and the West Bank, handing
over control to the newly created Palestinian Authority, the first ever Palestinian Government.
But land for peace hasn’t always worked.
Peace negotiations between Israel and Syria failed, despite Israel’s offer to withdraw
from the Golan Heights.
President Bashar Al Assad’s Father Hafez was unwilling to set out the depth of the
peace he would offer in return for the Israeli withdrawal.
Despite the early promising signs in 1993, the Oslo Accords didn’t lead to a comprehensive
Israeli-Palestinian agreement.
At the Camp David Summit hosted by President Clinton in 2000, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Barak offered to withdraw from 90% of the West Bank and give the Palestinians sovereignty
in areas of Jerusalem and control over parts of the Old City.
But Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat rejected the deal.
For years experts have debated exactly why the talks failed.
For example, Dennis Ross, a top US negotiator at the talks, believed that Palestinian leader
Arafat was “never ready — mentally, personally, or historically, — to conclude a deal”.
A leading Israeli negotiator at Oslo, Ron Pundak believed that the chance for peace
“was squandered due to faulty implementation and bad management of the entire process”
But the immediate consequence was the eruption of a second Palestinian Intifada which led
to waves of suicide bombings in Israeli cities and intense fighting between Palestinian fighters
and Israeli soldiers.
The renewed conflict and tragic loss of life shattered the belief in a peace process.
In 2005, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon took the momentous decision to completely
withdraw from Gaza and areas in the Northern West Bank and evacuate 8000 Israeli citizens
who had set up home there since 1967.
While Sharon didn’t believe he had a real Palestinian partner for peace, he tried to
ensure that the Palestinian Authority would take over Gaza after Israel’s withdrawal.
However, in June 2007 the terrorist organisation, Hamas won launched a coup, and kicked the
Palestinian Authority out of Gaza in what developed into a dangerous Palestinian civil
war.
They have controlled the territory ever since.
Prime Minister Sharon’s successor Ehud Olmert renewed efforts to negotiate a detailed peace
agreement with the Palestinians.
In November 2007, a peace conference took place at the United States Naval Academy in
Annapolis, Maryland.
In the 10 months following the conference, Israeli and Palestinian leaders Ehud Olmert
and Mahmoud Abbas met 36 times.
At their final meeting, in September 2008, Olmert made the offer to withdraw from 94%
of the West Bank with an additional offer to give the Palestinians land in Israel that
would join the Palestinian state.
He also offered to give up Israeli sovereignty over the Old City of Jerusalem, proposing
the holy sites be managed by a five nation special committee of Saudi Arabia, Jordan,
Palestine, the United States and Israel.
Worried about the stability of Olmert’s government, and hoping that the Obama Administration
would be more supportive to the Palestinians than President Bush, Abbas never responded
to Olmert’s offer – which was the most significant and far reaching deal ever by
an Israeli leader.
Some analysts argue that while the principle of land for peace has been a successful model
for resolving Israel’s conflict with its Arab neighbours – which have been primarily
about land – it doesn’t work in Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians, which is about
issues dating back to 1948 and earlier.
While a dispute remains about how much more of the West Bank Israel should hand over to
the Palestinians, and how to tackle the issue of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, there
are more complex issues such as sharing Jerusalem’s holy sites, resolving the issue of Palestinian
refugees and agreeing security arrangements which many argue constitute the core of the
conflict between the two national movements.
I'm James Sorene from the Britain Israel Communications Research Centre,
and you're watching J-TV.