Madrid Conference and Oslo Peace Process: A Historical Overview
The Madrid Conference
The Madrid Conference was an irony of the Gulf War: the ultimate beneficiary (winner) of the Gulf War was to be Arafat, and with him the PLO, despite the fact that he had sided with Saddam against the US-led coalition and had, as a result, lost his funding from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, his principal source of revenue. With the end of the Gulf War, the US pressured Israel in order to fulfill US promises made to the Arab leaders to gain their inclusion in the coalition against Hussein. The Madrid Conference of 1991 was a peace conference, held from 30 October to 1 November 1991 in Madrid, hosted by Spain and co-sponsored by the United States and the Soviet Union. It was an attempt by the international community to revive the Israeli–Palestinian peace process through negotiations, involving Israel and the Palestinians as well as Arab countries, including Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. The process included several rounds of negotiations (1991 to 1993). Arab states and Israelis negotiated for the first time, as did Israelis and Palestinians. No formal agreements resulted but Israel and Jordan drafted a Peace accord that would not be signed until October 1994. Exchanges between other delegations led nowhere. Palestinian demanded a State in a moment of cruel violence undertaken by Islamic groups (Hamas and Islamic Jihad) – these attacks reflected anger at Israel’s settlement expansion and at Arafat’s failure to represent the Palestinian interests. Although Arafat had benefited from the Gulf War to the extent that Palestinians were invited to the Madrid talks, he remained isolated in Tunisia, trying to influence Palestinian resistance from afar, while Hamas and Islamic Jihad led armed resistance as the intifada lost momentum. Subsequent bilateral meetings took place in Washington from the 9th December 1991. On the 28th January 1992, multilateral negotiations about regional cooperation were started in Moscow, attended by Israel, the Jordanian-Palestinian delegation and the international community, but without Lebanon and Syria.
The Oslo Peace Process
The Oslo accords (September 1993 and October 1995) were hailed by many as signaling an ultimate resolution of a problem that had festered for nearly half a century. But the apparent successes, concealed inherent problems concerned with the acceptance by the key parties in the Palestinian and Israeli political spectrum. Not only Hamas, but also many Palestinians identified with a peaceful resolution of the conflict condemned the first Oslo accord because Arafat recognized Israel’s right to exist without acquiring the Israeli recognition of Palestine statehood in return. Delays in implementing specific clauses of Oslo I (by Israel) and terrorist attacks from both sides led the Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to adopt firmer procedures in favor of Peace. Oslo II was based on the promise of greater Israeli handover of land and increased Palestinian political and security responsibilities. Israel would only retain heavily populated settlements close to the Green Line (West Bank). Likud rivals Binyamin Netanyahu and Ariel Sharon competed to condemn Oslo II and Rabin. Both participated in rallies during which posters portraying Rabin as a Nazi were prevalent. This vilification, accompanied by calls of Rabin’s assassination from rabbis (teachers of Torah) in Brooklyn, as well as the West Bank, led to his killing on the 4th of November 1995. In 1996, Netanyahu was elected Prime Minister with the determination to block the Peace Process. Although Ehud Barak replaced Netanyahu in 1999, Arafat’s reputation among the Palestinians plummeted. Barak was forced to include in his coalition parties opposed to the peace, and settlement growth initially proceeded at a faster pace with Barak than under Netanyahu. Mistrust and political instability destroyed the hope, although Clinton promoted a new peace process in Camp David in 2000.
2000 (September) – Likud leader Ariel Sharon visits Jerusalem site known to Jews as the Temple Mount. In 2001 Sharon became Prime Minister//2002 (June)– Israel begins building barrier in and around West Bank. Israel says barrier aimed at stopping Palestinian attacks.//Quartet of United, States, European Union, Russia and United Nations propose road map to resolve Israeli-Palestinian conflict, proposing independent Palestinian state.//2005 (September) – Israel withdraws all Jewish settlers and military personnel from Gaza, while retaining control over airspace, coastal waters and border crossings.//2006 – Hamas Islamist group wins Palestinian parliamentary elections. Rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza escalate.//2006 (July-August) – Israeli incursion into Lebanon, in response to deadly Hezbollah attack and abduction of two soldiers, escalates into Second Lebanese War.//2008 (December) – Israel launches month-long full-scale invasion of Gaza to prevent Hamas and other groups from launching rocket.//2009 – Netanyahu won the elections and became the Prime Minister up to today.//2014 (August) – Israel responds to attacks by armed groups in Gaza with a military campaign by air and land to knock out missile launching sites and attack tunnels.//2017 – US Recognized Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel and in 2019 the Golan Heights as Israeli territory.//2019 – Netanyahu won the elections.