In his article “Palestine Goes to the UN,” Khaled Elgindy draws up a set of cause-consequence scenarios for Palestine’s latest attempt at creating a state. The UN bid, which “marks a dramatic shift in the Palestinians’ approach to the conflict with Israel,” is set to be brought to the table in the UN General Assembly in September of 2011 (since that date has already passed, it will be assumed that we are still in the period prior to it for the purposes of the paper). Following Elgindy’s logic, the arguments of other authors, and the assumptions of the theories on international relations, I will demonstrate how the UN option will most likely fail, but without discounting the positive effect a ‘failure’ can have on the negotiation process. Elgindy’s main argument is that Palestine’s new strategy of calling on the UN for statehood is, in the long run, the more effective of the two possible policies, the other being, of course, direct negotiations between Israel and Palestine, which have “failed to realize Palestinian national aspirations and have helped prolong and deepen Israel’s occupation while weakening Palestine’s political institutions.” The theory behind his claim is a cost-benefit analysis of the appeal to the UN; whether it goes through (unlikely) or fails, there is something to be gained from it. The best – and again, most improbable – scenario for the Palestinian people is the official recognition of the state of Palestine by the 1967 borders. The most important effect of recognition is that Israel would be violating international law by having its forces in another state, and would be ‘legally’ obligated to withdraw. The term ‘legally’ is loosely used here because of the debate over the existence of anarchy at th... ... middle of paper ... ... Sep. 2011. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. Elgindy, Khaled. “Palestine Goes to the UN.” Foreign Affairs 90.5 (2011): 102-113. Academic Research Premier. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. Khalidi, Rashid. The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood. Boston: Beacon Press, 2006. Print. Newman, Edward, Roland Paris, and Oliver P. Richmond. New Perspectives on Liberal Peacebuilding. New York: United Nation University Press, 2009. Print. Pease, Kelly-Kate S. International Organizations: Perspectives on Governance in the Twenty-First Century. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008. Print. Rosen, Steven J. “Abbas vs. Obama.” Middle East Forum 18.2 (2011): 53-58. Academic Research Premier. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. Scheuerman, William E. Hans Morgenthau: Realism and Beyond. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2009. Print.
Bob Hawke once said; “Unless and until something concrete is done about addressing the Israeli-Palestinian issue you won't get a real start on the war against terrorism.” Perhaps Hawke put into a few simple words one of the most complicated issues within our world today, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As Israel continues to strip the Palestinians of their land and fears it’s very existence because of the Palestinians terrorist acts, there seems to be no solution in sight. The world appears to be split and all over the place when it comes to this matter. According to The Middle East Institute for Understanding approximately 129 countries recognize Palestine as a state while many others do not. Over all the political matters within this issue not only affect Palestine and Israel but the world as a whole, as the Middle East and the West seem to disagree. This has had and will continue to have an enormous impact on many political affairs all over the world particularly in the current fight against terrorism. Personally I feel that the Israeli Palestinian conflict while being a very complicated matter has a simple solution. Within this issue I am a firm believer that the occupation of the West Bank by Israeli forces is extremely unjust and must come to an end. Once this is achieved a two state solution will be the most effective way to bring peace to the area. The occupation of the West Bank violates political and legal rights, human rights, and illegally forces Palestinians who have lived in the area for hundreds of years from their land. This conflict is at the height of its importance and a solution is of dire need as nuclear issues arise in the Middle East due to the tension between Israel and it’s surrounding neighbors, and the...
This marked the beginning of the Palestine armed conflict, one of its kinds to be witnessed in centuries since the fall of the Ottoman Empire and World War 1. Characterized by a chronology of endless confrontations, this conflict has since affected not only the Middle East relations, but also the gl...
Given current conditions, a fully independent Palestinian State would threaten peace in the region, despite the fact that the Palestinians were the original inhabitants within recent history, and therefore theoretically have the right to the Palestinian area. This is not, however, an excuse to resume Israel’s current treatment of Palestinians. At minimum, Palestinians deserve full access to non-settlement areas of the west bank regardless of Israel’s desire to control and restrict access to roads connecting settlements, reasonably open access to East and/or West Jerusalem, and the same rights as an Israeli citizen within the legal system. To continue forcing poor conditions on Palestinians will only amplify resistance, and consequently, violent
The Israeli-Palestine conflict is an event that has been well documented throughout the course of Middle-Eastern history. The conflict dates back as far as the nineteenth century where Palestine and Zionist, will later be known as Israel, are two communities each with different ideologies had the same overwhelming desire to acquire land. However, what makes this clash what it is, is the fact that both of these up and coming communities are after the same piece of land. The lengths that both sides went to in order obtain they believed was theirs has shaped the current relationship between the two nations today.
Valaskakis, K. (1998). The challenge of strategic governance: Can globalization be managed? Optimum, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 26-40.
Bourke, Dale Hanson. The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Tough Questions, Direct Answers. Downers Grove, IL: Inter Varsity, 2013. N. pag. Print.
First starting with the mutual recognition as political entities and through the interim period build trust and inter reliance needed for administrative and security arrangements. The hope was that through this process Israel and Palestine could build the momentum to tackle the more sensitive issues, referred to as “final status issues.” Among these difficult and complex issues were the borders and status of a Palestinian State, the claims and repatriation of Palestinian refugees, the fate of the Jewish settlements, and the disposition of East Jerusalem. While it may seem counter intuitive the Oslo Peace Accords did not actually address any of these issues. This was due to its purpose as a way to build the political framework that would allow for later negotiations and not as a permeant peace solution for the region.
Continetti, Matthew. “Hamas’s Useful Idiots.” Commentary 138.2 (2014): 80-79. Academic Search Complete. Web. 29 July 2016.
The ongoing and explosive Israeli-Palestinian conflict has its roots in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century when two major nationalist movements among the Jews and Arabs were born. Both of these groups’ movements were geared toward attaining sovereignty for their people in the Middle East, where they each had historical and religious ties to the land that lies between the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. Toward the end of the 19th century, Southern Syria (Palestine) was divided into two regions, inhabited primarily by Arab Muslims, and ruled by the Turkish Ottoman Empire (BBC News). At this time, most of the Jews worldwide lived predominantly in eastern and central Europe. When the Zionist political movement was established in 1887 and began to fund land purchases in the Ottoman Empire controlled region of Palestine, tensions between the two groups arose. Since then, Israel and Palestine have been vying for control of this land that they both covet, and this conflict remains as one of the world’s major sources of instability today, involving many different players. One of these players who continues to halt the peace process, is a militant fundamentalist Islamic organization called Hamas. Hamas has intensified extreme opposition and bloodshed in the region, with the aim of destroying the state of Israel. However, few people know that starting in the mid 1970s, Israel secretly supported an organization that would later emerge as Hamas, even though both groups had competing future visions for the nation. Why did it choose to do this when it had so much at stake? This paper will address the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict leading up to the beginning of Israeli support of Hama...
Throughout the course of the book, Rubin sketches the development of the PLO beginning with its foundation in 1964 and going until the October 1993 signing of the Israeli-Palestinian Declaration of Principles. Twenty-nine years is a long period to cover in about 200 pages of text, but Rubin hones his focus by devoting the majority of the book to processes in the 1980s and 1990s. In the chapters about the 1980s and 1990s, his analysis is successful in demonstrating the indecision of the PLO’s policy making. He shows the organization’s serious internal divisions, its failures, and the pressures that led it into the current peace process (first in Madrid and later in Oslo).
Since 1967, numerous illegal Israeli settlements have been built on Palestinian land and the occupied territory, “housing more then 400,000 Jewish settlers.” Even since 1967, there has been a lot of divergence, unrest, bereavement, war and obliteration on both sides. There was a war in 1973 and two intifadas Palestinian uprising one that began in 1987 and one that began in 2000 that brings us into the 21st century. There have been many attempts in resolving conflicts however; the conflict is a matter of whether the Palestinians should be permitted to form their own independent country and government in an area that was once theirs yet now occupied and currently the nation of Israel. The Arab- Israeli conflict is historically a fuse that ignites regional battle due to the occupation of Palestine.
Andersen, Roy, Robert F. Seibert, and Jon G. Wagner. Politics and change in the Middle East: sources of conflict and accommodation. 9th ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1982. Print.
“Palestinians do not control their own fate but instead live under the power of other states” (82, Yambert). The one state that directly controls the fate of Palestinians in the occupied territories is Israel and for the Palestinians who do not reside in Israel, other governments control them. The history of Palestine and how Israel came into existence is essential to understand in order to break down the present day conflict. The most dominant and important player in the Palestinian – Israeli conflict has been the United States of America, which has completely shaped the predicament in order to fulfill its interests. Before delving into the role of the United States, it is essential to go back in time and familiarize with the history of Palestine and Israel.
Gerner, Deborah J., and Philip A. Schrodt. "Middle Eastern Politics." Understanding the contemporary Middle East. 3rd ed. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2008. 85 -136. Print.
Globalization has led to several substantial changes in global governance and the entities participating in governance activities. First, over the past 70 years, an increasing number of nations have signed onto international agreements. For example, when the Global Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was created in 1947, it had no institutional structure; by 2009, though, more than 150 nations – accounting for 97% of world trade – were members of GATT’s successor, the World Trade Organization (Fidler, 2009). The World Health Organization, started in 1946, now comprises 194 member states and has nearly 150 country offices (Council on Foreign Relations, 2012). In both of these entities – and in others, such as the Genera...