The attempts to find a lasting peace, 1988– 2012 Flashcards
1
Q
What does Intifada mean?
A
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2
Q
Explain The Intifada of 1987?
A
- Continuing poor conditions for the Palestinians in the occupied territories was underlying cause. They faced poor job opportunities, harassment by Israeli troops and loss of land where Jewish settlements were set up
- The trigger event was in December 1987 when the stabbing of an Israeli civilian was followed by an Israeli army truck crashing into an Arab truck
- This was seen as deliberate and led to violent protests in Gaza and the West Bank
- These disturbances were spontaneous (not organised by the PLO or Arab states)
- Israel’s ‘iron fist’ military response damaged its image abroad
3
Q
How did the Peace Process come about?
A
- The intifada focused world sympathy on the Palestinian cause. 346 Palestinians, most of them young people, were killed in 1987-88
- Its success gave Arafat the confidence to moderate his demands
- He recognised Israel’s existence and abandoned terrorism as it could no longer achieve any more and he did not want to be overtaken by more radical forces, such as Hamas
- Jordan withdrew its claim to the West Bank in 1988 so it could become a Palestinian territory
- There was limited progress initially
- The PLO was criticised for supporting Iraq in the 1st Gulf War when the USA led an international coalition to drive Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait; This caused Arafat to lose the backing of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait
- The end of the Cold War in 1989-91 helped the peace process because Russia was longer as supportive of the Arab states and the USA could put pressure on Israel to talk without fear of Russia in the Middle East
4
Q
What was the role of the USA?
A
- Now that the USA was the world’s only Superpower, it was in a unique position to drive the peace process
- US pressure on Israel, as well as the cost of military action and damage done to Israel’s image, lead it to agree to negotiate
5
Q
What were the Oslo Accords (1993)
A
- The new Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin recognised the PLO as the representative of the Palestinians
- He would rather deal with them than see support grow for Hamas, whose first suicide bombing was in 1993
- Arafat called for an end to the intifada and recognised Israel’s right to peace and security, which was a major breakthrough
- The US President got the 2 sides together in Washington in September 1993
6
Q
What agreements were in the Oslo Accords?
A
- Israeli troops were to withdraw from Gaza and parts of the West Bank
- There were to be elections for the Palestinian authority to govern these areas for a 5 year period
- This was followed separately by a treaty with Jordan in 1994, in which Jordan recognised Israel and agreed a settlement of borders
7
Q
What was left unsettled in the Oslo Accords?
A
- There was still no progress with Syria
- The agreement did not cover the future of Palestinian refugees, or of Jerusalem
- It did not stop the building of Jewish settlements on the West Bank, with Palestinian homes often destroyed to make way for them
8
Q
What were the consequences of the Oslo Accords?
A
- Moderates accepted the agreement
- Israeli right-wingers saw it as a sell-out to their historic enemies and were worried that the Palestinians would press for more land. Rabin was assassinated by an Israeli extremist in November 1995
- Palestinian hard-liners were still dissatisfied as they still did not have a Palestinian state and Israel still had overall control of the areas, while the new Palestinian authority had limited powers
