Lies of a Peace Process

October 8, 2010 By 9 Comments

The term “peace process,” writes William B. Quandt in Peace Process: American Diplomacy and the Arab-Israeli Conflict since 1967, began to be widely used “sometime in the mid-1970’s” to describe “the American-led efforts to bring about a negotiated peace between Israel and its neighbors.” As Quandt explained it, “The phrase is synonymous with the gradual, step-by-step approach to resolving one of the world’s most difficult conflicts.”  Quandt added, “In the years since 1967 the emphasis in Washington has shifted from the spelling out of the ingredients of ‘peace’ to the ‘process’ of getting there.”

In the aftermath of the Six Days War of 1967, with Israel in control of the Sinai, the Golan Heights, Judea, Samaria, and Gaza, a fierce debate began in Israel over how to make peace with its Arab enemies.  The political-left saw an opportunity to use the captured territories as bargaining chips for peace — hence the land for peace formula.

The political-right, on the other hand, looking pragmatically at Arab hostility and the Arab world’s unwillingness to neither make peace with Israel (nor recognize or negotiate with the Jewish State), argued for keeping most of the captured territories (certainly Judea and Samaria) and maintained that Israel had as much of a claim to the territories as the Jordanian monarchy or the Arab-Palestinians. Moreover, they asserted that the Arabs would never make a full and sincere peace with Israel.

Within the Israeli center-left establishment, the Allon Plan (named after General and Deputy Prime Minister Yigal Allon) gained a great deal of currency.  It called on Israel to retain the strategic areas (the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria, and the Jordan Valley) and negotiate over the densely populated cities of the West Bank with Jordan in exchange for peace.

This debate over land for peace proved meaningless as the Arabs and the Palestinian Arabs made no attempts at peace negotiations for years.  In 1979, however, things changed when Egypt signed the Camp David Peace Accords with Israel (the Begin center-right Likud government gave up the Sinai for peace, and later in 1994, the Rabin center-left Labor government made some territorial concession in order to conclude a peace agreement with Jordan). The Oslo Accords and subsequent peace process of the 1900’s tested the assumptions of both the right and the left.

Prior to the signing of the accords at the White House Lawn ceremony in September 1993, President George H.W. Bush and his Secretary of State James Baker dipped their hands in the peace process.  Following the victory against Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War, they organized a conference in October 1991 in Madrid, Spain, that brought together Israel, alleged Non-PLO Palestinians and Jordanians, as well as Syrians.  It was meant to serve as a preamble to direct bilateral and multilateral talks between Israel and its neighbors.  The impatience of both the new left-leaning Rabin government in Israel, and the new Clinton administration in Washington with, doomed the success of the Madrid process.

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  • Rifleman

    For all their faults, neither clinton nor rabin doomed the 'Madrid process' or any other They were just being played by arafat, who wasn't about to sign his own death warrant like Sadat did. Peace isn't a process, and if a process could create it, the Israelis would have had it decades ago. Commies and jihadis view negotiations with their enemies far different from the way we and the Israelis do.

    Can anybody name a single concession ever made by the 'palis'?

    • Moishe Pupick

      Sa., 10/09/10 common era

      The proposed 2-State Solution would quickly turn into a 2-State Final Solution 2. It doesn't take an Einstein to figure this out. Things will likely get worse before they get better. I understand that the current State is only about 10% of Eretz Israel, promised by G-d to Abraham and his seed forever.

  • jaythehistorian

    It's amazing Israelis would support political parties such as Kadima which is led by the outright traitors. The traitors include Livni and 2 other morons Ehud Barak, and Olmert. Livni is so obsessed with political power , she would place Israeli Jews at the mercy of the fakestinians. When the arch Jew hating moron in the White House, wanted to remove the democratically elected Netanyahu, from power , as soon as the Chicago nitwit entered the white house, Livni became the epitome of the "useful idiot" . Livni is such a sociopath , she would gladly put Israeli Jews in desire straits if it meant she became prime minister. The Fakestinians, are not a real people, They are not indigenous to the Jewish National Homeland but are tresspassers who originated in Syria , Egypt and Lebanon. They only became a majority because the British actively encouraged their immigration into the Israel with open borders, while cutting off immigration of Jews ,knowing it meant a death sentence. Israel should not negotiate with any Fakestinians because they are tresspassers, just like illegal aliens are in the US. Their so-called government is more accurately described as an organized crime family than a real government . The PLO and Hamas resemble the Mafia because they are only interested in money and murdering their rivals (Israelis). It is nothing short of insane for Israel to "negotiate" with these criminal gangs. It makes as much sense as the US government negotiating with organized crime in the US. When the head of Fatah recently came to the US , he referred Netanyahu as "my partner" in a meeting with American Jewish leaders. However, this gangster absolutely refused to say he would ever consider agreeing to live in peace with Israel as a Jewish state. This is jihadist "cease fire" . It was first used by Mohammed. It's principle is when Muslims are not strong enough to defeat the infidels they use a cease fire. The cease fire involves lulling infidels to believe Muslims are interested in a real peace treaty. Islam encourages never dealing in good faith with infidels. So screw Obama, Netanyahu should tell him and other Jew hating Western leaders he will not negotiate Israel's suicide. Israel should then evict any disloyal Arab residents as Lieberman suggested. Netanyahu's support of a loyalty oath for all Israeli citizens is a more subtle way of implementing Lieberman's plan.

    • ajnn

      "They only became a majority because the British actively encouraged their immigration into the Israel with open borders, while cutting off immigration of Jews"

      We forget how few people lived in the Holy land before the 1900; Around 100,000. Jerusalem had a total population in 1900 of 60,000 , and 36,000 of them were Jewish.

  • Ret. Marine

    Only when a separation of mosque and state, now that there is the crux to the entire problem. Any one with a rudimentary knowledge of the mosque issue knows this to be completely a no starter. There will NEVER be a separation between the mosque and state because they are one in the same. Now the solution to this ongoing problem is a one way street for the Israeli's, the arabs only understand BRUTE strength, force and death, give it to them and those who would back the other warring factions of the arab states and then and only then will there ever be peace, period. It would be better for the arabs to understand the meaning of fear vrs. appeasement, only then will they in turn allow peace as a means to end all hostilities. We saw what happened to Begin when he sign the peace deal, Arafat was no fool.

  • davarino

    What can you say? If Isreal wants to survive they are going to have to take this matter into their own hands and tell the world to go F themselves, otherwise its a slow death.

  • stephencuz

    You've all heard our "Bridge Builder", the one we've paid to "represent" us in the Mid-East Imam Rauf say "one day, in our life time, Israel will be just one more Arab state with a Jewish minority." THIS is their goal. Nothing less. Actually, a little more. AFTER they have Israel they will begin to systematically kill off the Jewish and Christian population that remains and Islam is all that is left. Can you say Jihad?

    • ajnn

      For support to this theory look to Egypt and how the Egyptian Christians (the oldest Christian community in the world) is being brutalized, oppressed, and killed. Their land stolen, their children forcibly converted to islam, and any words of protest violently crushed.

      It is horrible.

  • bobbie

    There won't be peace until there's a clear and undisputable winner!