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Long line of Israeli-Palestinian peace bids precedes Trump administration’s push

US President Bill Clinton (C) meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Barak (L) and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat July 25 at Camp David at the end of the Middle East Peace Summit. (File/AFP)
Updated 26 June 2019
Arab News
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Long line of Israeli-Palestinian peace bids precedes Trump administration’s push

Updated 26 June 2019
Arab News

The economic conference in Bahrain follows a history of peace efforts that have failed to overcome decades of distrust and violence.

Here is a list of the main plans and initiatives undertaken by the parties themselves and international mediators since the 1967 Middle East war, when Israel captured the Jordanian-held West Bank and East Jerusalem, Egypt’s Sinai peninsula and the Egyptian-run Gaza Strip and Syria’s Golan Heights.

• 1967 — UN Security Council Resolution 242

After the Six-Day War, UN 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.

• 1969 -1971 — The Rogers Plans

US Secretary of State William Rogers proposes three plans that focused on ending warfare between Israel and Egypt, whose forces were then glaring at one another across the Suez Canal. It urged that Jerusalem be a “unified city” with roles for Israel and Jordan in its civic, economic and religious life. It also called for a “just settlement” for Palestinian refugees.

• 1978 — Camp David agreement

Five years after the 1973 Middle East war, which began with Egyptian and Syrian offensives to regain the Sinai and the Golan Heights and ended with Israel still in control of the two territories, US President Jimmy Carter brings Israel’s Menachem Begin and Egypt’s Anwar Sadat to Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, to negotiate peace.

In 1977, after a series of disengagement of forces agreements between Israel and Egypt, Sadat had become the first Arab leader to visit Israel. At Camp David, he and Begin agree on a Framework for Peace in the Middle East. It calls for an Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty, an Israeli withdrawal in stages from the Sinai and a transitional Palestinian self-government in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

• 1979 — Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty

Signed on the White House lawn, it is the first peace treaty between Israel and an Arab country. It set out plans for a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai within three years.

• 1981 — Fahd Plan

Saudi Crown Prince Fahd proposes plan calling for complete Israeli withdrawal from territories captured in 1967, creation of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and a right of return or compensation for Palestinian refugees.

• 1982 — The Reagan Plan

After Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, US President Ronald Regan urges a “fresh start” in resolving the wider Israeli-Arab conflict. He proposes a five-year transitional period of Palestinian autonomy in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and negotiations leading to self-government by the Palestinians in association with Jordan.

• 1991 — Madrid summit

Four years after a Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, erupted in the West Bank and Gaza, an international peace conference convenes in Madrid. 

Representatives of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) attend, a historic first. No agreements are reached but scene is set for direct Israeli-Palestinian contacts.

• 1993-1995 — Declaration of Principles/Oslo Accords

Israel and the PLO hold secret talks in Norway that result in interim peace agreements. The accords call for a Palestinian interim self-government and an elected council in the West Bank and Gaza for a transitional period not exceeding five years, along with Israeli troop withdrawals. Negotiations would begin no later than the third year of the interim period on a permanent Israeli-Palestinian agreement.

• 2000 — Camp David summit

With Israel and the Palestinians unable to resolve core issues, US President Bill Clinton convenes Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak at Camp David. They fail to reach a final agreement and another Palestinian uprising ensues.

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

George W. Bush becomes first US 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 territory occupied in 1967 and Israel’s acceptance of a Palestinian state in return for normal relations with Arab countries.

Quartet of mediators — the US, the EU, the UN and Russia — presents a roadmap to a permanent two-state solution to the conflict.

Amid the Palestinian uprising, the plan calls for an “end of terror and violence,” Israeli troop pullbacks and an Israeli settlement freeze, all leading to final-status negotiations.

• 2007 — Annapolis summit

In the most intense US peace push since Israeli-Palestinian talks collapsed in 2000, Bush hosts a Middle East summit in Annapolis, Maryland. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert attend and agree to resume talks, with the declared aim of crafting a peace treaty by 2008. Olmert later says they were close to a deal but a corruption investigation against him and a Gaza war in 2008 caused the negotiations to end.

• 2009 — Netanyahu’s Bar-Ilan address

In a speech at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he would be prepared to reach 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 pressure from US President Barack Obama, Netanyahu imposes a 10-month partial moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank. Peace talks resume just before the freeze ends, and then break down within weeks after Netanyahu refuses to extend the moratorium.

• 2013 — 2014 — Washington peace talks/negotiations collapse

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators, coaxed to resume talks by US Secretary of State John Kerry, meet in Washington. Kerry says the objective is to reach a final-status agreement within nine months. Talks go nowhere and Israel suspends them in April 2014, citing its opposition to a unity pact between President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah group and Hamas.

• 2019 — Netanyahu says he intends to annex West Bank settlements 

Topics: Israel-Palestinian peace plan Peace to Prosperity Workshop Manama - Bahrain peace to prosperity workshop

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Lebanon’s prime minister urges US, France to help expedite Israeli withdrawal

Updated 5 sec ago
NAJIA HOUSSARI
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Lebanon’s prime minister urges US, France to help expedite Israeli withdrawal

  • Najib Mikati visits war-torn Khiam to assess extent of destruction in the town
Updated 5 sec ago
NAJIA HOUSSARI

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Monday called on the US and France to help speed up the withdrawal of Israeli forces from his country nearly a month into a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Mikati emphasized his commitment to “resolving all disputes related to the Blue Line — the UN-demarcated boundary between Lebanon and Israel — to eliminate any justification for the Israeli occupation of Lebanese land.”

Mikati was on his first visit to the southern frontlines, where Lebanese soldiers under the US-brokered ceasefire deal are expected to gradually deploy, with Hezbollah and Israeli troops expected to withdraw by the end of next month.

Speaking from the border town of Khiam, Mikati said he was working with “the World Bank, the European Union, Arab countries, and our international partners to create a trust fund” for reconstruction efforts.

FASTFACTS

• PM Mikati is working with ‘the World Bank, the European Union, Arab countries, and our international partners to create a trust fund’ for reconstruction efforts.

• The World Bank estimated in October that the fighting had caused physical damage amounting to ‘at least $3.4 billion’ in Lebanon.

• Mikati is the first Lebanese official to enter Khiam after the withdrawal of the Israeli army and the deployment of the Lebanese army in the area.

The World Bank estimated in October that the fighting had caused physical damage amounting to “at least $3.4 billion” in Lebanon.

Mikati is the first Lebanese official to enter Khiam after the withdrawal of the Israeli army and the deployment of the Lebanese army in the area.

He assessed the extensive and systematic destruction in the town after the Israeli forces’ demolition of homes and facilities.

Mikati expressed “profound pain over the destruction.”

He underlined the need for “an immediate Israeli withdrawal from the Lebanese territories that the Israeli army has penetrated.”

He said: “These are essential issues for the Lebanese army to be ready to carry out its duties in full. The measures related to UN Resolution 1701 will take their natural course and be fully implemented by the army, with American and French guarantees.”

He said no obstacles must prevent the army from fulfilling its duties.

Mikati said that “the delay and procrastination in implementing the international resolution did not originate from the military, but rather the issue lies with the Israeli side, which is exhibiting a reluctance to proceed.”

He continued: “We must consult the parties to the ceasefire agreement, namely the French and the Americans, to put an end to this Israeli procrastination and to expedite the process as much as possible before the end of the 60 days stipulated in the ceasefire agreement for a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Lebanese territories.”

Mikati said the Lebanese government “is responsible for implementing measures in line with international law. It is also fully committed to enforcing UN Security Council resolutions.

“This is the current scope of our work. I say to all skeptics: ‘Hope for the best, and you shall find it.’”

Regarding reconstruction, Mikati said: “We will develop a plan and conduct studies within the necessary timeframe and with complete transparency.”

The truce in southern Lebanon went into force on Nov. 27 after more than a year of cross-border hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah that began with the outbreak of the war in Gaza.

During his first visit to the border region since the implementation of the ceasefire, under the auspices of the US and France, Mikati traveled from Beirut to the Marjayoun barracks in the eastern sector to inspect the army units stationed at the front lines.

Awaiting his arrival was the commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces, Gen. Joseph Aoun.

Mikati saluted “the souls of the army martyrs who fell defending the land,” praising “the high morale of the soldiers and their insistence on defending the land despite all the difficulties.”

The prime minister said: “The army has never faltered in its duties, and we are facing a challenging test.

“It has consistently proven to be a symbol of national unity and carries out its responsibilities, with all Lebanese standing by its side in support.”

Mikati expressed the hope that the meeting he has requested on Tuesday with the US, French, and Lebanese military representatives in the oversight committee for monitoring the ceasefire “will address issues related to the deployment of the Lebanese army in light of Israel’s withdrawal from all territories it penetrated during its recent aggression so that the army can carry out its duties in full.”

Gen. Aoun said that “despite all the limited resources, the army remained steadfast in its positions and protected civilians. We will continue our mission because we believe in our actions.”

The second stop for Mikati and Gen. Aoun on the tour was the UNIFIL Eastern Sector Command in the town of Ebel El-Saqi.

UNIFIL Force Commander Maj. Gen. Aroldo Lazaro and the commander of the eastern sector, Gen. Fernando Ruiz, received them.

The audience listened to an explanation of the field situation in the operations room.

Gen. Lazaro highlighted the tasks carried out by UNIFIL in coordination with the army.

He confirmed “the continuation of the meetings of the Ceasefire Monitoring Committee to carry out the required tasks.”

Mikati praised UNIFIL’s “role and close cooperation with the army.”

He emphasized that “our priority is the full implementation of Resolution 1701, Israel’s withdrawal from the territories it has penetrated, and stopping the systematic destruction of villages and halting violations. We look forward to long-term stability in the south through the army carrying out its duties in full cooperation with UNIFIL.”

On his way back, Mikati was warmly welcomed by residents of Qlayaa and Marjayoun in the towns’ squares, where he praised “the steadfastness of the people and their attachment to their land.”

Also on Monday, in a provocative move, the Israeli army raised the Israeli flag at the entrance of the southern Lebanese border town of Naqoura. UNIFIL’s headquarters are in Naqoura.

The Israeli forces also blocked the Bint Jbeil–Maroun El-Ras road with earth mounds and concrete blocks, preventing vehicle access to Maroun El-Ras.

Israel reconnaissance planes continued to violate Lebanese airspace in the south.

Israeli forces shelled Kafr Kila and Bani Hayyan and destroyed houses in Naqoura, as well as in Al-Bustan and Al-Zalloutiyeh in Tyre, south Lebanon.

The Israeli army again warned residents of southern Lebanon not to move south to a line of villages stretching from Mansouri on the coast to Shebaa in the east until further notice.

 

 

Topics: Battlefield Lebanon Palestine Gaza Lebanon

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Israel’s Netanyahu orders military to ‘destroy’ Houthis

Updated 54 min 25 sec ago
Reuters
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Israel’s Netanyahu orders military to ‘destroy’ Houthis

  • Also said Israel had solidified its stance as “regional power”
  • Added he planned to expand Abraham Accords with Israel’s “American ally”
Updated 54 min 25 sec ago
Reuters

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister on Monday said that he had ordered the country’s military to destroy the infrastructure of Iran-backed Houthis, after the Yemeni group fired missiles at Israel last week.

“I have instructed our forces to destroy the infrastructure of Houthis because anyone who tries to harm us will be struck with full force. We will continue to crush the forces of evil with strength and ingenuity, even if it takes time,” Netanyahu told the Israeli parliament.

He added that progress had been made in ongoing hostage negotiations with Hamas in Gaza but that he did not know how much longer it would take to see the results.

During a speech in Israel’s Knesset, Netanyahu said Israel had made “great achievements” militarily on several fronts and that military pressure on Hamas had led its leaders to soften their previous demands.

The prime minister, in between heckles from opposition members, said Israel had solidified its stance as a “regional power” and that he planned to expand the Abraham Accords together with Israel’s “American ally.”

He said the war in Gaza had offered opportunities to sign new peace accords with Arab nations and “dramatically change the face of” the Middle East.

“Moderate Arab countries view Israel as a regional power and a potential ally. I intend to seize this opportunity to the fullest. Together with our American friends, I plan to expand the Abraham Accords... and thus change even more dramatically the face of the Middle East,” he said in parliament, referring to agreements which normalized ties between Israel and some Arab states during Donald Trump’s first term as US president.

Netanyahu said Israel’s economy was strong and encouraged foreign investors to invest.
 

Topics: War on Gaza Israel Palestine Gaza Hamas Gaza hostages

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Nine killed in Iran as bus, fuel truck collide — state media

Updated 23 December 2024
AFP
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Nine killed in Iran as bus, fuel truck collide — state media

  • Iran has a poor road safety record, with over 20,000 deaths recorded between March 2023 and March 2024
  • In August, 28 Pakistani Muslim pilgrims en route to Iraq were killed when their bus crashed in central Iran
Updated 23 December 2024
AFP

TEHRAN: At least nine people were killed on Monday when a bus collided with a fuel truck in Iran’s southeast, state media reported, the second mass casualty road accident within days.
Mohammad Mehdi Sajjadi, head of the Red Crescent Society in Sistan-Baluchestan province, told the official IRNA news agency that “nine people lost their lives and 13 others were injured in the accident in which a bus collided with a fuel truck near Zahedan.”
On Saturday, 10 people were killed when a bus plunged into a ravine in Iran’s western Lorestan province.
Iran has a poor road safety record, with more than 20,000 deaths in accidents recorded between March 2023 and March 2024, according to figures from the judiciary’s Forensic Medicine Organization cited by local media.
In August, 28 Pakistani Muslim pilgrims en route to Iraq were killed when their bus crashed in central Iran.
Impoverished Sistan-Baluchestan, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, saw one of Iran’s deadliest accidents in 2004, when a gasoline tanker collided with a bus, sparking a massive fire that killed more than 70 people.

Topics: Iran Bus Accident

Gaza official says Israel strikes on hospital ‘terrifying’

Updated 23 December 2024
AFP
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Gaza official says Israel strikes on hospital ‘terrifying’

  • The area has been the focus of an intense air and ground campaign by Israeli forces since October 6, aimed at prevent Hamas from regrouping
Updated 23 December 2024
AFP

GAZA STRIP: An official from one of only two functioning hospitals in northern Gaza told AFP on Monday that Israeli forces were continuing to target his facility and urged the international community to intervene before “it is too late.”
Hossam Abu Safiyeh, director of Kamal Adwan hospital in the city of Beit Lahia, described the situation at the medical facility as “extremely dangerous and terrifying” owing to shelling by Israeli forces.
An Israeli military spokesman denied that the hospital was being targeted.
“I am unaware of any strikes on Kamal Adwan hospital,” he told AFP.
Safiyeh reported that the hospital, which is currently treating 91 patients, had been targeted on Monday by Israeli drones.
“This morning, drones dropped bombs in the hospital’s courtyards and on its roof,” said Safiyeh in a statement.
“The shelling, which also destroyed nearby houses and buildings, did not stop throughout the night.”
The shelling and bombardment have caused extensive damage to the hospital, Safiyeh added.
“Bullets hit the intensive care unit, the maternity ward, and the specialized surgery department causing fear among patients,” he said, adding that a generator was also targeted.
“The world must understand that our hospital is being targeted with the intent to kill and forcibly displace the people inside.
“We face a constant threat every day. The shelling continues from all directions... The situation is extremely critical and requires urgent international intervention before it is too late,” he said.
On Sunday, Safiyeh said he received orders to evacuate the hospital, but the military denied issuing such directives.
Located in Beit Lahia, the hospital is one of only two still operational in northern Gaza.
The area has been the focus of an intense air and ground campaign by Israeli forces since October 6, aimed at prevent Hamas from regrouping.
Most of the dead and injured from the offensive are brought to Kamal Adwan and Al-Awda hospitals.
The United Nations and other organizations have repeatedly decried the worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza, particularly in the north, since the latest military offensive began.
Rights groups have consistently appealed for hospitals to be protected and for the urgent delivery of medical aid and fuel to keep the facilities running.
Israeli officials have accused Hamas militants of using the hospitals as command and control centers to plan attacks against the military.
The war in Gaza broke out on October 7 last year after Hamas militants launched an attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 45,259 people, a majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, figures the UN says are reliable.

Topics: War on Gaza Gaza Hamas Israel

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Some gaps have narrowed in elusive Gaza ceasefire deal, sides say

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Some gaps have narrowed in elusive Gaza ceasefire deal, sides say

  • Palestinian official familiar with the talks said some sticking points had been resolved
  • But identity of some of Palestinian prisoners to be released by Israel in return for hostages yet to be agreed
Updated 23 December 2024
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CAIRO/JERUSALEM: Gaps between Israel and Hamas over a possible Gaza ceasefire have narrowed, according to Israeli and Palestinian officials’ remarks on Monday, though crucial differences have yet to be resolved.
A fresh bid by mediators Egypt, Qatar and the United States to end the fighting and release Israeli and foreign hostages has gained momentum this month, though no breakthrough has yet been reported.
A Palestinian official familiar with the talks said while some sticking points had been resolved, the identity of some of the Palestinian prisoners to be released by Israel in return for hostages had yet to be agreed, along with the precise deployment of Israeli troops in Gaza.
His remarks corresponded with comments by the Israeli diaspora minister, Amichai Chikli, who said both issues were still being negotiated. Nonetheless, he said, the sides were far closer to reaching agreement than they have been for months.
“This ceasefire can last six months or it can last 10 years, it depends on the dynamics that will form on the ground,” Chikli told Israel’s Kan radio. Much hinged on what powers would be running and rehabilitating Gaza once fighting stopped, he said.
The duration of the ceasefire has been a fundamental sticking point throughout several rounds of failed negotiations. Hamas wants an end to the war, while Israel wants an end to Hamas’ rule of Gaza first.
“The issue of ending the war completely hasn’t yet been resolved,” said the Palestinian official.
Israeli minister Zeev Elkin, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet, told Israel’s Army Radio that the aim was to find an agreed framework that would resolve that difference during a second stage of the ceasefire deal.
Chikli said the first stage would be a humanitarian phase that will last 42 days and include a hostage release.
HOSPITAL
The war was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza has since killed more than 45,200 Palestinians, according to health officials in the Hamas-run enclave. Most of the population of 2.3 million has been displaced and much of Gaza is in ruins.
At least 11 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes on Monday, medics said.
One of Gaza’s few still partially functioning hospitals, on its northern edge, an area under intense Israeli military pressure for nearly three months, sought urgent help after being hit by Israeli fire.
“We are facing a continuous daily threat,” said Hussam Abu Safiya, director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital. “The bombing continues from all directions, affecting the building, the departments, and the staff.”
The Israeli military did not immediately comment. On Sunday it said it was supplying fuel and food to the hospital and helping evacuate some patients and staff to safer areas.
Palestinians accuse Israel of seeking to permanently depopulate northern Gaza to create a buffer zone, which Israel denies.
Israel says its operation around the three communities on the northern edge of the Gaza Strip — Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Jabalia — is targeting Hamas militants.
On Monday, the United Nations’ aid chief, Tom Fletcher, said Israeli forces had hampered efforts to deliver much needed aid in northern Gaza.
“North Gaza has been under a near-total siege for more than two months, raising the specter of famine,” he said. “South Gaza is extremely overcrowded, creating horrific living conditions and even greater humanitarian needs as winter sets in.”

Topics: War on Gaza Israel Gaza

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