Israel and the Palestinians: Fifty Years of Wars and Turning Points

In 1947, Israel accepted the U.N. partition plan while the Palestinians rejected it and tried to prevent its realization by force. The result was catastrophic for the Palestinians. Following the Six Day War, Israel withdrew from its liberal occupation policy and from its intention to avoid any changes in the administered territories prior to the political negotiations. This created a new reality that made any future political agreement extremely difficult. The 1982 war in Lebanon removed the last territorial base that allowed a Palestinian armed struggle against Israel, while the intifada ripened the necessary conditions for the opening of political negotiations and reaching the Oslo Declaration of Principles. The progress made so far is no guarantee that a settlement can be reached in the foreseeable future. It is now the Israelis who reject a territorial compromise. The political window of opportunity that had been opened in Oslo in 1993 has a limited time frame, which raises serious questions about the next phase of the conflict.