Making the Case for Israel—Part IV: Israel’s Peace Efforts Since ’93
After the brutal attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7th, some analysts have reverted to explaining the conflict with the simplistic phrase, “another cycle of violence.” These misleading words draw a moral equivalence between a sovereign nation-state (Israel) and a terrorist organization (Hamas).
The phrase also assumes that Israel has not made any effort to achieve peace with its Palestinian neighbors. A look at the history of the conflict since 1993 proves that the opposite is true.
In 1993, Israel signed onto the Oslo Accords. The foundation of this historic agreement was based on mutual recognition between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (P.L.O.). The basic idea was to initiate a “peace process” that would lead to the end of the conflict.
The P.L.O. was a terrorist organization created in 1964 and headed by Yasser Arafat. As its title suggests, it was dedicated to the destruction of Israel. The P.L.O. was notorious for many high-profile terror attacks, including the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
The Oslo Accords allowed for the transformation of the P.L.O. into the Palestinian Authority to be headed by Yasser Arafat. As a result of the agreement, Israel began to withdraw from its occupation of the major cities of the West Bank to allow for autonomy in areas to be controlled by the Palestinian Authority.
It was a time of great euphoria, and the hopes for a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians were real.
It was also during this period that the government of Iran and its Palestinian terror proxies—Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad—did everything possible to literally blow up the hopes for peace. Their efforts began just after the signing of the Oslo Accords.
Between 1993 and 2000, Hamas and Islamic Jihad carried out 20 suicide bombings. Although the Palestinian terror organizations provided the hateful ideology and carried out the suicide bombings, it was Iran that provided the financial means and technical support to commit mass murder.
In spite of Palestinian terrorism, Israel’s leadership was determined to continue its pursuit of peace with the Palestinians.
At the invitation of President Bill Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak went to the historic summit meeting at Camp David in July of 2000 to meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The summit aimed to reach a comprehensive peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians.
Although the meeting ended in failure, the two sides continued to negotiate.
In December of 2000, Israel agreed to the Clinton Plan for the creation of a Palestinian state in at least 95% of the West Bank, all of Gaza, and a shared Jerusalem as the capital of the two states.
The issue of Israeli settlements in the West Bank would have been dealt with through land swaps. Israel would have kept about 5% of the West Bank in exchange for a similar percentage of its own territory to the Palestinians.
Unfortunately, this generous offer for peace was rejected by Yasser Arafat.
In his autobiography, President Clinton wrote, “Arafat’s rejection of my proposal after Barak accepted it was an error of historic proportions. However, many Palestinians and Israelis are still committed to peace. Someday, peace will come, and when it does, the final agreement will look a lot like the proposals that came out of Camp David and the six long months that followed.”
Beyond Arafat’s rejection of the Clinton Peace Plan, Arafat then aligned himself with the Palestinian terror organizations. He gave a “green light” to the horrific period of violence we know as the Second Intifada.
Between 2000 and 2005, more than 110 Palestinian suicide bombers blew themselves up on Israeli buses, in restaurants, and in shopping malls. These suicide bombings and other terror attacks murdered more than 1,000 Israeli civilians and wounded many thousands more.
Yet, in spite of this traumatic period, Israel did not give up on its efforts for peace with the Palestinians.
In 2005, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ended the Israeli occupation of Gaza by ordering the unilateral withdrawal of all Israeli settlers and soldiers from Gaza. The Palestinian Authority then took over control of Gaza.
Critics of Israel claim that Israel then turned Gaza into an “open-air prison.” Nothing could be further from the truth.
After the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, an agreement was signed between Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, and the European Union on open borders between Gaza, Egypt, and Israel. This created an opportunity for peace and prosperity for the people of Gaza. Everyone was happy with the agreement except Hamas and their backers in Iran.
In 2007, Hamas took control of Gaza by violently expelling the Palestinian Authority and turning it into an enemy territory by indiscriminately firing rockets at Israeli cities.
It’s also important to remember the wider regional context in which Israelis live.
On July 12th, 2006, Iran’s loyal proxy, Hezbollah, launched an unprovoked cross-border attack on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon. The attack began with Hezbollah rocket fire on Israeli communities near the border. Then, a Hezbollah force attacked an Israeli army patrol inside Israel, killed three soldiers, and took two as hostages.
In the ensuing conflict which became known as the Second Lebanon War, Hezbollah launched nearly 4,000 rockets at Israeli cities, killing 49 Israeli civilians. In the ground operation, 121 Israeli soldiers died fighting in Lebanon.
Despite the combined trauma of the Second Intifada and the Second Lebanon War, and with continuous rocket fire from Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made yet another peace offer to the Palestinians.
In 2008, Olmert met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and again offered peace through the two-state solution in a proposal similar to the Clinton Plan. Unfortunately, Mahmoud Abbas also rejected this peace proposal.
This brings us back to Gaza.
Since 2005, Hamas and Islamic Jihad have fired nearly 20,000 rockets at Israeli civilians. And this was all before the attack on October 7th.
Again, we see the deadly hand of Iran working with its Palestinian terror proxies to fulfill their common goal: the destruction of Israel.
In a virulent speech given by Hamas Leader Yahya Sinwar in June 2019 about the long-range rockets of Hamas that can reach Tel Aviv, he said: “Let me reiterate. If not for Iran’s support for the resistance in Palestine, we would not have obtained these capabilities… Iran has supported us with weapons, equipment, and expertise.”
The historical record is clear: this tragic conflict cannot be accurately understood as a “cycle of violence.” Despite facing threats to its existence from the north and south, Israel has consistently made sincere efforts for peace with its Palestinian neighbors.
To revive the hope for peace between Israelis and Palestinians and fulfill the promise of the Oslo Accords, two things need to happen.
The international community must economically isolate the government of Iran until it ends its support for terrorism. Most importantly, the leadership of the Palestinian Authority must begin to educate their children about coexistence with Israel and fully commit to peace with Israel through the two-state solution.
Bob Feferman
Community Relations Director
574-233-1164 x1815
RFeferman@TheJewishFed.org