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| Volume VIII, December 2001, Number 4 |
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| EXCERPT: The United States and the Breakdown of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process |
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| Stephen Zunes |
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Stephen Zunes is an associate professor of politics and chair of the Peace and Justice Studies Program at the University of San Francisco. He serves as senior policy analyst and Middle East editor of the Foreign Policy in Focus Project and as a research associate at the Center for Global, International and Regional Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Since the collapse of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks at Camp
David in the summer of 2000 and
the subsequent Palestinian uprising, details have emerged that challenge the Clinton administration's insistence -- reiterated by leaders of both the Democratic and Republican parties as well as much of the mainstream media -- that the Palestinians were responsible for the failure to reach a peace agreement and for much of the violence since then. If such a perception were true, the ongoing U.S. diplomatic, financial and military support for Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip could be justified as a response. The reality, however, is far more complex. Both the Clinton and Bush administrations, along with leading members of Congress from both parties, have deliberately misrepresented what happened in the peace process before, during and after Camp David, as well as what has transpired since the outbreak of the second intifada in late September 2000.
The Palestinians bear some responsibility for the tragic turn of events. There was no effective communication between Arafat and some of his negotiators, which led to some confusion during the peace talks. Arafat's corrupt, inept and authoritarian rule has alienated broad swaths of Palestinian public opinion, making it difficult for him to control much of his population. Similarly, the Palestinian Authority failed to create a sociopolitical base necessary to promote a viable sovereign entity. Arafat refused to disarm Fatah's Tanzim militia, which is now largely beyond his control and has engaged in a number of armed confrontations with Israelis in the occupied territories. Segments of the Palestinian Authority, including some of the media, have encouraged violence against not just Israeli occupation forces, but Israeli settlers as well. The Palestinian Authority has not cracked down sufficiently on armed elements of radical Islamic opposition groups, which have engaged in terrorist attacks inside Israel that resulted in deaths of scores of innocent Israeli civilians. In addition, the Palestinians have not emphasized enough that the intifada is focused upon the ongoing Israeli occupation of lands seized in the 1967 war and is not an attack on the legitimacy of Israel itself.
A careful examination of events, however, appears to indicate that the primary fault for both the failure of the peace process and the subsequent violence lies squarely with Israel and its patron, the United States.
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