War and Peace in the Middle East

Introduction

According to Khalidi since its creation on May 14, 1948, the Jewish nation of Israel has fought in no less than four major wars with its Arab neighbors to maintain its power. Although Israel had made an undetermined peace with its neighbors in the North and West, trouble within its borders has always remained. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, many disorganized during the 1948 and 1967 wars, were living in camps in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. This paper is intended to present to the readers a critical analysis of the ongoing Middle East peace process (Mishal, 11-15).

Answer # 1

Khalidi thinks that by the early 90's, the sides had begun diplomatic negotiations for peace and in 1993 Israel and the PLO signed a Declaration of Principles known as the Oslo Peace Accords. The accords allowed for the creation of a Palestinian state by May 4, 1999 and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, the two areas marked for inclusion in the new state of Palestine (Kiernan, 81-92).

He has also mentioned that Oslo Agreements came to a halt when Benjamin Nethanayu of Israel decided to open a new tourist tunnel near The Al Aqsa Mosque. Arafat saw this as a ruthless move on Netanyahu's behalf. He saw it as a disgraceful effort to manifest Israel's sovereignty over the city.

Answer # 2

As said by Khalidi, Palestinian's were greatly enraged by this, and saw this action as an excuse to jeopardize the Oslo Agreements. The Israeli-Palestinian peace process is in grave danger. Why? There are two main logic. The first is quite apparent. The Oslo accords have yet to cause very much pacification. More Palestinians have died since Oslo than did during the start of the Palestinian intifada in 1987 (Mishal, 11-15).

The result is that most Palestinians have not been, and certainly do not believe themselves to be, safer as a result of Oslo. This sense of the Palestinian ambivalence about peace with the Israeli is the climax of reliance that must be addressed if the peace proceedings itself is to be redeemed. The second reason for the peace process impasse is less obvious and somewhat counterintuitive (Kiernan, 81-92).

Answer # 3

In addition Khalidi also brings forward that there isn't enough peace, there is also not enough process. This means there has been far too little importance placed on the need for execution of existing agreements as prerequisite for future proceedings Hart, 467-469). Regrettably, this is a charge one can make against both the parties in this process, Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Khalidi Said, the people have heavily criticized the Isreal seizure of the occupied territories. His prose is graceful and powerful, his moral vision steady. He mentions in his book that Yasir Arafat and his small ring of supporters can furnish little resistance to the Israeli-American juggernaut, even though of course real Palestinian self-determination, in the sense that the Palestinian people will enjoy genuine ...