Oslo Peace Initiative - Essay Example

Why has the Oslo Peace Initiative failed to achieve lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians In order to understand the failure of the OsloPeace Accord (1993) between Israel and Palestine, it is imperative to know a brief background of history immediately preceding the peace initiative. This essay shall provide a brief history and then analyze the reasons for the failure of the peace process. Ever since the victory of the 'Six-day-war' or the War of Liberation in 1967, Israel's position became increasingly powerful in terms of self-defense and security. However, the joint effort of Arabs was defeated on all sides by Israel, and brought about a million Palestinian Arabs under the Israeli control (Isseroff, 2006). For the Palestinians, the peace agreement of Israel with Egypt served to increase their desperation. This led to the intensification of struggle by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) under Yassir Arafat. Though the United States entered the scene and made it a personal agenda to restore peace in the Middle East, only limited progress was made in the 1978 Camp David negotiations because of mutual distrust and suspicion between the two parties. Even though this eventually brought about the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty, dissatisfaction and stalemate in the situation led to the First Intifadaor the Arab Revolt in 1987-91 in Gaza Strip and West Bank. There was change in leadership in Israel and Yitzhak reversed his nation's stand and tried to negotiate with the PLO and participated in the secret talks in Oslo, Norway (MERIP 2006:3); as the result Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles, was signed in Washington in September 1993, which is otherwise known as the Oslo Accord. Through this PLO recognized Israel and Israel the authority of PLO. It is clear from the above that, suspicion and mistrust ruled high here from the beginning. The main issue of contention was not one of religion, but more an issue of home-land. The Palestinians needed more areas for their large population, who had lost their homes during the wars and were living as refugees elsewhere. In one estimate their numbers were close to three million (MERIP 2006: 6). The entitlement status to be given to the Palestinians and the treatment of Israeli settlements (Israel evacuated all Israelites from the West Bank and Gaza Strip over the next few years) were other significantly unresolved issues that led to frustration. Rights to the Jordan River waters, on which was another important reason for animosity. Finally, Jerusalem with its historical places of worship was also a point of dispute, with both sides refusing to give up claim (Mideastweb 2006:1). While the Israelites consider Jerusalem as their "eternal capital" ((MERIP 2006:8), Arabs also want it as their capital because of its association with Prophet Mohammed. According to some, in first place the agreement itself was "deeply flawed" because it did not find many takers in the Arab nations (MERIP 2006:3). Importantly, the accord did not find support amongst the radical Islamist leaders in the two strategic places of Gaza Strip and West Bank. The infighting in the Palestinian camp, spurts of violence of the HAMAS and Jihad, ensured that the Oslo Peace Initiative was hardly allowed a chance. Israel did not want to allow the return of Palestinian refugees because it would undermine their majority status and reduce their population. In a nutshell, after the Oslo Peace Accord More than seven years have gone by and Israel has security and administrative control of 61.2% of the West Bank and about 20% of the Gaza Strip and security control over another 26.8% of the West Bank. This control is what has enabled Israel to double the number of settlers in 10 years..and to seal an entire nation into restricted areas, imprisoned in a network of bypass roads meant for Jews only... (ifAmericansknew.com 2006) Why is there conflict between the two peoples (now) still in 2007! To a keen observer, it may be clear that there are no easy solutions to a problem of this magnitude and historical import. When Yassir Arafat died on November 11, 2004 leaving, things were far from settled for the Palestinians. Mahmud Abbas continued in his place in 2005 and in Israel, the 'Disengagement plan' of Sharon was not very well received by the Israeli fundamentalists or rightists. His Likud party faced corruption charges. Even so, other attempts were made from time to time to settle the dispute. Meanwhile both the sides were arming and counter-arming themselves to attack and counter attack the other. Thus the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) and the Palestinian Hamas and Jihad continued to launch attacks and counter-attacks. The IDF Systematically targeted and killed Palestinian terrorists for example Sheikh Yassin (Isseroff, 2006). Furthermore, the unwillingness to give away any concessions to the Palestinian cause of the right wing Zionists in Israel also cause a number of problems to the progress of peace. Thus Israel has engaged in talks with Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan at various times with varied results. While by and large Egypt and Israel seem to have buried differences, Lebanon has become the latest trigger to spark off violence (Migdalovitz 2006:13-15). Israel planned to execute its 'disengagement' process. However, intensive protests against it again plunged the nation into violence, leading to the death of a Palestinian youth. The 'disengagement' continued despite all this, and completed the process, in September 2005, even as IDF killed five terrorist in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, the death of Ariel Sharon on January 4, 2006, left the leadership of Israel and his new Kadima party with Ehud Olmert. And in the Palestine settlements were preparing for an election and even though "deadly fighting between Hamas and Fatah" factions continued, eventually Hamas won the elections in 2006 (PBS 2006). This seems to have taken the situation back to where it started because, the Fatah (the other faction) has totally rejected the coalition invitation, stating that the former would not validate the PLO as the legitimate representatives of the Palestinian people, and hence all the documents and agreements of the past and indeed, the very peace process itself stood threatened. For its part the international community froze all aid to the Hamas-led Palestine National Authority government, plunging the nation into financial chaos, with the only exceptions being Iran and Russia, who liberated some funds for use of the Hamas. The party reacted typically with the formation of a new defense militia at the helm of Jamil Abu Samhadana, leader of the Palestinian Popular Resistance Committees. Once again riots between Hamas and Fatah began and set off a series of murders, kidnappings until Samhadana was inadvertently killed in an Israeli air-raid. This is one of the reasons for the violence continuing till date. (Isseroff, 2006). Furthermore, as mentioned earlier, the latest attacks from the Lebanon border by Hezbollah militants, prompted Israel to retaliate appropriately, according to its perception. While Israel may not have any animosity with Lebanon itself, the harboring of Hezbollah within its borders (Migdalovitz 2006:13-4) has led many of its places including civilian targets being attacked in Lebanon, leading to another chain of killings and violence. There has hardly been any respite even in 2007, because of the senseless killings and counter-killings There have been several peace initiatives including Oslo in 1993 why have they failed -especially Oslo There have been a number of peace initiatives: the Madrid conference (1991), Oslo Peace Accord, the Wye River memorandum or the Oslo II (1998), Camp David Summit (2000), Beirut Summit (2002), and the "Road Map" for peace (2002). (Wikipedia, 2006). The Madrid Conference (1991) which was held immediately after the Gulf war, hardly had any impact and seems to have made no progress, expect leading to the next meeting at Oslo. It should be understood that it is the first ever move that has tried to give peace a chance, and naturally should have been viewed with doubt. The failure of the Oslo Accord shall be dealt with, last. Camp David Summit (2000): Due to the efforts of the US President Bill Clinton in 2000, a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and the Palestinian President Yasser Arafat took place, in which the former proposed a plan in which he would almost give total independence of Gaza Strip, and West Bank to PLO, however, rejected the offer since it included a conditionf handing over 10% of the West Bank. Beirut Summit (2002): Held in March 2002, in Beirut, its agenda was to present plans to reduce the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While some sort of agreement was envisaged by Shimon Peres, the Israeli foreign minister, not much progress was made because Israel was not yet ready to meet the 'full withdrawal' of its territory siezed in the 'six-day war' or in 1967 (Oded 2002:147). The "Road Map" for peace (2002): This consisted of the United States, Russia, the United Nations, The European Union known as the 'quartet' outlining the "road map" for a peaceful settlement . It has not borne much fruit excepting a short-term cease-fire. Regarding the Oslo Accord it should be said that at least some progress was made. While Israel withdrew itself progressively from the parts it occupied, it was however suspicious of the intentions of the Palestinians to stop violence and bombings. And as it happened, the breakaway factions of the Palestine Liberation movement, continued to wage war on Israeli targets, especially before peace talks. The crux of the problem lay in the two parties not being able to control their extremist factions which successfully ruined the little and slow progress painstakingly made through much sacrifice and courage on both sides. While the formation of Israel was initially based on the return of 'the promised land' in the scriptures to the sons of Abraham, and intensified by the Holocaust, the Arabs too have a legitimate claim to the land through their centuries of continuous occupation of it (MERIP 2006: 2-8). While at the base of the conflict is land and water, at a higher level, it is the mistrust and suspicion that leads to human violence and misunderstandings. A lasting peace cannot be found by external force or pressure. It is the people of Israel and Palestine who should open their hearts and eyes and arms to view each other as brethren living together in a common motherland. However, the ground realities may prevent this happening immediately, as hatred and violence are still strong, as indicated by the recent bombings at the Lebanon border. Lasting peace is can be achieved without violence, as Mahatma Gandhi (1938) said on the subject of the Palestinian Liberation movement "I wish they had chosen the way of non-violence in resisting what they rightly regard as an unacceptable encroachment upon their country" (Mahatma Gandhi, quoted in "A Land of Two Peoples" ed. Mendes-Flohr, cited in ifAmericansknew.com 2006). Bibliography ifAmericansknew.com (2006). "The Origin of the Palestine-Israel Conflict". Electronic page, retrieved on Jan 31, 2007. Isseroff, Ami. (2006). "Israel and Palestine: A Brief History" in Mideastweb. Electronic page, retrieved on Jan 31, 2007. Migdalovitz, Carol (2006). "The Middle East Peace Talks" in CRS Issue Brief for Congress. Order Code IB91137. Electronic page, retrieved on Jan 31, 2007. MERIP - The Middle East Research and Information Project (2006). "Palestine, Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict A Primer" By Joel Beinin and Lisa Hajjar. Electronic page, retrieved on Jan 31, 2007. http://www.merip.org/palestine-israel_primer/intro-pal-isr-primer.html http://www.merip.org/palestine-israel_primer/zionism-pal-isr-primer.html http://www.merip.org/palestine-israel_primer/brit-mandate-pal-isr-prime.html http://www.merip.org/palestine-israel_primer/occupied-terr-jeru-pal-isr.html http://www.merip.org/palestine-israel_primer/oslo-accords-pal-isr-prime.html Oded, Eran (2002). "Arab-Israel Peacemaking." The Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East. Ed. Avraham Sela. New York: Continuum. PBS (2006). "Abbas Calls for Early Elections After Hamas-Fatah Violence" In electronic document posted on December 18, 2006. Retrieved on Jan 31, 2007. Wikipedia (2006). "Peace process in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict" Electronic page, retrieved on Dec 29, 2006. "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_process_in_the_Israeli-Palestinian_conflict" Read More