Palestinian-Israeli Conflict - Case Study Example

Several peace solutions were made since the PLO was granted the observer status in the UN as the delegate of the Palestinian Arabs in the year 1974. Along with the UNRWA which was set up in 1949 for relief of the Palestinian refugees, numerous UN institutions were set up to support the cause of the Palestinians. The UN General Assembly resolution 3379 in 1975 which declared Zionism to be a form of racism caused the UN to lose the complete credibility as a neutral mediator in the eyes of Israel and the peace process was never an easy task for the international community.

Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty in 1979 after the US mediation, for which Israel returned the Sinai Desert to Egypt. The secret negotiations in Oslo resulted in an agreement between Israel and the Palestine in which a Palestinian National Authority was established under the leadership of Arafat and the PLO in 1994 and Israel was agreeable to gradually transfer land to this authority. However, theOslo peace processgot slowed down as both the parties did not stick to agreements they made and the leadership on both sides failed to build confidence and to prepare their own people for the necessary compromises.

Thus, confrontations continued and the peace process gradually dragged on towards the negotiations on Camp David in 2000 which was also a failure. The then US president Bill Clinton presented the 'bridging proposals' in December 2000 which suggested the parameters for a final compromise that included a Palestinian state comprising the Gaza Strip and about 97% of the West Bank, division of Jerusalem and no right of return to Israel for Palestinian refugees. Whereas Israel received this proposal in principle, Palestinian was not ready to accept the suggestion.

The two sides failed to reach a settlement in the last minute negotiations at Taba in January2001, in spite of further Israeli concessions. Both the sides, in a joint communiqu, agreed that they had never been so close to an agreement, though issues such as the refugee issue remained. The peace process continued and new negotiations were made in the course of time. "Although both parties accepted the 'Road Map to Peace', launched by the Quartet of US, UN, EU and Russia in 2003, no serious peace negotiations have taken place in recent years between Israel and the Palestinians.

Israeli PM Ariel Sharon did take unilateral measures such as the disengagement from the Gaza Strip in 2005, but he demanded an end to Palestinian terrorism before he would engage in negotiations with Arafat's successor Abbas concerning final status issues." (The Arab-Israeli Conflict) However, the peace process for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is still going on and the international community is expecting a miracle in the solution of the long struggle and the ongoing dispute between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

The most pertinent obstacle among the various obstacles against a final and peaceful conclusion to the Palestinian Israeli conflic