Long line of Israeli-Palestinian peace bids precede Trump push

Published On: January 27, 2020 03:40 PM NPT By: Reuters


JERUSALEM, Jan 27: U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to present to Israeli leaders details of his long-delayed peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians on Monday.

Palestinians have already dismissed the plan, without having seen it, accusing the Trump administration of pro-Israel bias.

The initiative follows a history of peace efforts that have failed to overcome decades of distrust and violence.

Here are the main plans and initiatives undertaken by the parties themselves and international mediators since the 1967 Middle East War, when Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the Sinai peninsula and the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights:

1967 - U.N. Security Council Resolution 242

After the Six-Day War, U.N. Security Council Resolution 242 calls for the “withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict” in return for all states in the area to respect each other’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence.

The resolution is the foundation for many peace initiatives but its imprecise phrasing - is the reference to all territories or just some? - has complicated efforts for decades.

1978 - Camp David agreement

Five years after the 1973 Middle East War, U.S. President Jimmy Carter brings Israel’s Menachem Begin and Egypt’s Anwar Sadat to Camp David to negotiate peace. Begin and Sadat agree on a Framework for Peace in the Middle East, calling for an Israeli withdrawal in stages from Egypt’s Sinai desert and a transitional Palestinian government in the West Bank and Gaza.

1979 - Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty

The first peace treaty between Israel and an Arab country sets out plans for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Sinai within three years.

1981 - Fahd Plan

Saudi Crown Prince Fahd proposes plan calling for complete Israeli withdrawal from all occupied territories, creation of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and a right of return or compensation for Palestinian refugees.

1991 - Madrid summit

Four years after a Palestinian uprising erupted, an international peace conference convenes in Madrid. Representatives of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) attend. No agreements are reached but scene is set for direct contacts.

1993-1995 - Declaration of Principles/Oslo Accords

Israel and the PLO hold secret talks in Norway that result in interim peace accords calling for establishment of a Palestinian interim self-government and an elected council in the West Bank and Gaza for a five-year transitional period, Israeli troop withdrawals and negotiations on a permanent settlement.

2000 - Camp David summit

U.S. President Bill Clinton convenes Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak at Camp David. They fail to reach a final agreement. Another Palestinian uprising ensues.

2002-2003 - Bush Declaration/Arab peace initiative/Road Map

George W. Bush becomes first U.S. president to call for creation of a Palestinian state, living side-by-side with Israel “in peace and security”.

Saudi Arabia presents Arab League-endorsed peace plan for full Israeli withdrawal from occupied territory and Israel’s acceptance of a Palestinian state in return for normal relations with Arab countries.

The United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia present roadmap to a permanent two-state solution to the conflict amid a Palestinian uprising.

2007 - Annapolis summit

Bush hosts Middle East summit in Annapolis, Maryland. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agree to resume talks. Olmert later says they were close to a deal but a corruption investigation against him and a Gaza war in 2008 scupper any agreement.

2009 - Netanyahu’s Bar-Ilan address

In a speech at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he would be prepared for a peace agreement that includes establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state. He also sets another condition: Palestinian recognition of Israel as the “state of the Jewish people”.

2010 - Israeli settlement freeze/talks resume - and end

Under U.S. pressure, Netanyahu imposes 10-month partial moratorium on West Bank settlement construction. Peace talks resume just before freeze ends and then break down after Netanyahu refuses to extend moratorium.

2013 - 2014 - Washington peace talks/negotiations collapse

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry coaxes Israeli and Palestinian negotiators to resume peace talks. They go nowhere and are suspended in April 2014.

June 2019 - Trump economic plan announced

Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and the principal author of the Trump plan, launches its preliminary stage in Bahrain.

He takes an “economy first” approach, calling for a $50 billion investment fund to boost the Palestinian and neighboring Arab state economies.

2019

During election campaigns, Netanyahu says he intends to annex West Bank settlements, and much of the Jordan Valley if elected. Later, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo effectively backs Israel’s claimed right to build Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank by abandoning the four-decade-old U.S. position that they were inconsistent with international law.


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