Hope for Future Peace

 

 

 

Obstacles to Overcome

 

1)  History of negotiations

 

 

 

 

 

SCR 242 (1967)-                     Security Council Resolution that called for Israeli withdrawal from the territories gained during the Six Day War in exchange for peace.

(full text)

 

Camp David Accords (1978) -  President Jimmy Carter with Egyptian President Sadat and the Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin agreed to A Framework for Peace with the Palestinians and setup the framework for future peace with Egypt. full text

from left to right: President Sadat, President Carter, and Prime Minister Menachem Begin

 

Madrid Conference (1991)-     Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon were encouraged to make their own peace treaties with Israel at this meeting.  Later Jordan established its peace treaty with Israel.

 

 

Israeli-Syrian Talks-                Talks that began directly after the Madrid Conference stating that Israel would pull out of Golan Heights only in exchange for normalized relations with Syria.

 

Oslo Agreement (1993)-         Secret negotiations that were historical because it was the first time the PLO and Israel mutually recognized each other. Oslo Declaration of Principles

 

from left to right: Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, US President Bill Clinton, and PLO leader Yassir Arafat

 

 

Camp David 2000-                  A failed attempt at nailing down final status issues such as Jerusalem, refugees, and borders between Israel and the PLO.  Sparked the second Palestinian uprising, or intifada.  Statement from the Summit

 

 Taba (2001)-                         Topics of disagreement were narrowed and both parties showed more flexibility, although final agreement was not reached.UN text on Taba negotiations 

 

Saudi Peace Plan (2002)-       Arab summits that signaled a desire in the Arab states to resolve conflict, supporting a two-state plan.  Text of Saudi Plan/ Beruit Declaration

 

Road Map (2003)-                   A phased timetable for laying down the foundation to create a Palestinian state.Road Map Text 

 

Geneva Accords (2003)-         Informal agreement which calls for compromise to bring about security and peace, addressing Jerusalem and borders mainly. Text on Geneva initiative

 

 

 

 

2)  Jerusalem

 

 

 

Jerusalem has changed hands many times since antiquity, and has a powerful pull on Jewish, Muslim, and Christians (Jerusalem's Holy Sites.)Since Israel reclaimed East Jerusalem in the war in 1967, they were determined not to lose it ever again, for from the Jewish perspective it was seen as a reunification of their capital and holy land.  Rampant development followed, annexing the city and creating barriers to Palestinians.  The general international consensus does not recognize Israeli sovereignty in East Jerusalem, which is illustrated by the fact that no country wishes to have their embassy located in the area. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 240,000 Arab inhabitants of East Jerusalem are allowed special Israeli residency permits, and enjoy advantages over those in the occupied West Bank, but

they say they face discrimination; restrictions on building or renovation, disregard by the municipality even though they pay taxes, bureaucratic obstacles if they marry Palestinians from elsewhere, confiscation of their papers, revocation of their residency rights if they take residency or citizenship in another country or spend more than seven years abroad.

 

Israel has allowed the Palestinians of East Jerusalem to remain, but it has hemmed them in, squeezed them, left them in no doubt the city is not theirs.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers have moved to the occupied east of the city - an area the Palestinians hope to establish as the capital of their future state.

 

Palestinians from outside the city - in the West Bank and Gaza - are rigorously excluded by a ring of roadblocks and Israeli military checkpoints.

In recent years Israel has been building the controversial West Bank barrier around Palestinian population centres, a response to the suicide bombings of the 1990s and after 2000.

Around parts of East Jerusalem it is a massive wall, separating some Palestinian suburbs from the centre of Jerusalem and others from the West Bank.

Many observers see the possibility of disaster in Israel's unyielding pursuit of its policies in Jerusalem.

They argue that resolution with the Palestinians, and the wider Arab and Muslim world, will not be possible without compromise on the holy city.

                  - BBC.com on Jerusalem

 

        

 

 

 latest news on Jerusalem

 

http://www.jpost.com/

 

http://globalpolitician.com/articledes.asp?ID=3814&cid=2&sid=1

 

http://thepost.com.pk/OpinionNews.aspx?dtlid=131791&catid=11

 

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2007/12/02/annapolis-conference-long-shot-lead-peace-between-/

 

 

 

 

 

 

3)  Water

 

 

 

 

A country needs water to survive and develop. In the 1967 war Israel gained exclusive control of the waters of the West Bank and the Sea of Galilee, although not the Litani.  Heated arguments rage about the rights to the mountain aquifer. Israel, and Israeli settlements, take about 80% of the aquifer's flow, leaving the Palestinians with 20%.

Israel says the proportion of water it uses has not changed substantially since the 1950s. The rain which replenishes the aquifer may fall on the occupied territory, but the water does flow down into pre-1967 Israel. But the Palestinians say they are prevented from using their own water resources by a belligerent military power, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to buy water from their occupiers at inflated prices.  Palestine is always first to run out of water, damaging their agrictultural economy, and then are forced to deal with the health problems that ensue.

 

Syria wants an Israeli withdrawal to 5 June 1967 borders, allowing Syria access to the Jordan and Yarmouk rivers. Israel wants to use boundaries dating back to 1923 and the British Mandate, which give the areas to Israel.

 

 

 

 

 

By contrast, the Jordan-Israel treaty of 1994 produced notable agreement on use of wells in the Wadi Araba area in the south and sharing the Yarmouk in the north.

In the 21st Century Israel has tried to solve the Palestinian problem unilaterally, pulling troops and settlers from Gaza and building a barrier around West Bank areas with the largest concentration of Palestinians.

 

Although Israel says this is a temporary security measure, the barrier encroaches deep onto occupied territory - especially areas of high water yield.

 

Demand for water already outstrips supply, requirements are rising and current supply is unsustainable. Hydrologists say joint solutions need to be found, because water requirements are interdependent and water resources cross political boundaries.That necessitates improved conservation and recycling by both sides.  Improving the political atmosphere would allow supplies to be piped from neighbouring countries. Also crucial, experts say, are investment in desalination and other technical advances.Such solutions are desperately needed in the medium to long term. In other words, Israel and the Palestinians must work together, because they cannot survive as combatants.

 

 http://www.palestinecenter.org/cpap/pubs/19990819pb.html

 

 

 

4)  Refugees

 

In the course of Israel's creation in 1948 and its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, more than half the Arabs of pre-1948 Palestine are thought to have been displaced. Given a right of return, their numbers endanger the future of the world's only Jewish state.  The issue of the refugees is therefore seen by many Israelis as an existential one.

 

Israel steadfastly argues that all refugees - and it disputes the numbers - should relinquish any aspirations to return to what is now its territory, and instead be absorbed by Arab host countries or by a future Palestinian state.  It disavows moral responsibility by arguing that 800,000 Mizrahi Jews were displaced from Arab countries between 1945 and 1956 (most of whom settled in Israel) and insists Palestinians left willingly. Israel has effectively deployed a number of arguments to justify blocking the return of Palestinian refugees, such as saying that it is the only Jewish state, the refuge of Jews from around the world, while there are 22 Arab countries where they could go.  It also points out that UN General Assembly resolutions have no force under international law and says the unassimilated refugee population has been held hostage by frontline Arab states waiting for Israel's destruction.

 

                            BBC on refugees

 

 

 

 

 

 

5)   Borders and Settlements