Peace between Israel and Egypt, and Israel and Jordan, was achieved in 1979 and 1994 respectively. Israel remains officially at a state of war with both Syria and Lebanon. The Arab Peace Initiative, proposed by Saudi Arabia in 2002 and endorsed by the Arab League, promises full peace and normalized relations between all Arab countries and Israel in exchange for a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
In 1993, Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization signed the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements, commonly known as the Oslo Accords. This agreement was based on the 1978 Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, and led to further US-mediated negotiations between the two sides. The negotiations have continued in an “on again, off again” manner to the present day.
During the 1948 war between Israel, the Palestinian Arabs, and the combined forces of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon, over 700,000 Palestinians either fled or were expelled from their homes. They and their descendants claim an enduring “right of return” that would allow them to return to what is now Israel and reclaim these homes.
Security is a core issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and has always been at the forefront of Israeli strategic thinking. In order to be accepted by Israel, any potential peace agreement will have to include security guarantees by the Palestinians.
The dividing lines between Israel proper and the West Bank are heavily disputed. The demarcation line, called the “green line,” was established by the 1949 Armistices Agreements between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. Also referred to as the “1967 borders,” the green line also divides Israel from the territories conquered during the 1967 war against Egypt, Syria, and Jordan.
Point of View: Jewish Israeli
Jewish political violence in the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict predates the establishment of the state of Israel. Future Israeli leaders, including Prime Ministers
Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir, helped plan terrorist attacks against British and Palestinian Arab targets. In
more recent times, right wing Jewish extremists have attacked Palestinians, Israeli Arabs, and fellow Israelis in
both Israel and the Occupied Territories.
Point of View: Palestinian
Palestinian political violence in the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict predates the establishment of the state of Israel, and has continued ever since. The Palestinian
Liberation Organization (PLO) led a terrorist campaign against Israel and Israeli targets until PLO chairman Yasser
Arafat renounced terrorism in 1988. In more recent times, Palestinian terrorist acts have been carried out
primarily by the Islamist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Since 1967, Israel has maintained an occupation of the West Bank, which involves military rule over the Palestinians who live there. As part of the 1995 Oslo II Accord, the West Bank was divided in Area A (full Palestinian civil and security control), Area B (Palestinian civil control and joint Israeli-Palestinian security control), and Area C (full Israeli civil and security control). Although it withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, Israel maintains control over Gaza’s airspace, territorial waters, and movement of people and goods.