On August 13, the governments of Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced that they had agreed to the full normalization of relations in exchange for Israel suspending its announced plans to annex large areas of the Palestinian territories. This agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, dubbed the « Abraham Agreement, » if fully implemented, would be the first Arab-Israeli reconciliation of its kind since the 1994 Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty and will prevent, at least temporarily, the broader Israeli-Palestinian and even regional deterioration that could have followed Israel`s unilateral annexation. USIP`s Robert Barron examines how the agreement came about, what role the United States played, and what it means for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and Israel`s relations with the Arab world as a whole. In 2008, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas were on the verge of defining a common vision for peace between their two nations – closer than the two sides had ever done. But what really happened at these meetings? And why didn`t they manage to make a deal? Many analysts say Trump has abandoned the role of honest broker between Israel and the Palestinians and has taken a staunchly pro-Israel stance. In August 2020, the Trump administration brokered an agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, known as the Abraham Accords, in which both countries pledged to begin normalizing relations. Soon after, Bahrain and Sudan announced similar agreements brokered by the United States. On the south lawn of the White House that day, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and PLO foreign policy expert Mahmoud Abbas signed the Declaration of Principles on Interim Autonomy Agreements. The agreement provided for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank city of Jericho and the formation of a Palestinian government, which would eventually be granted authority over much of the West Bank. President Bill Clinton presided over the ceremony and more than 3,000 spectators, including former presidents George Bush and Jimmy Carter, watched in amazement as Arafat and Rabin sealed the deal with a handshake. The bitter old enemies had met for the first time this morning at a reception at the White House.
Although the United States was excluded from negotiations on the 1993 Oslo peace accords — in which the Palestinian leadership recognized Israel`s right to exist and Israel recognized Palestinian autonomy in Gaza and the West Bank — the parties to the dispute signed the final agreement at the White House. The United States and Bill Clinton`s administration played a larger role in 1998 when they promoted negotiations between Israel and the PLO that led to the Clinton parameters to create a two-state solution. Since then, successive governments have proposed their own plans for a two-state solution: George W. Bush`s Roadmap for Peace, Secretary of State John Kerry`s Six Principles, and Trump`s Peace to Prosperity. There was a time when the United States believed that an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement was within reach. This was one of the top national security priorities, and it was critical to America`s broader goal of reshaping the Middle East. While Israelis and Palestinians are now in their second week of struggle, political goals have been significantly reduced today. To talk about this change, we called NPR`s Greg Myre, who covered the Israeli-Palestinian conflict two decades ago. Welcome, Greg. The human rights approach aims to achieve a certain type of peace that would include a negative peace – the absence of war and violence. It also aims for positive peace by addressing the root causes of the conflict and building institutions and structures that create and maintain peaceful relations between Israelis and Palestinians. Violence increased in the 1980s when Palestinians clashed with Jewish settlers in the occupied territories.
In 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon to expel the PLO. In 1987, Palestinian residents of Gaza and the West Bank launched a series of violent protests against the Israeli authorities, known as the Intifada or « shake up. » Soon after, King Hussein of Jordan relinquished all administrative responsibility for the West Bank, thereby strengthening the PLO`s influence there. As the intifada continued to rage, Yasser Arafat proclaimed an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on November 15, 1988. A month later, it condemned terrorism, recognized the right of the State of Israel to exist and authorized the commencement of land-for-peace negotiations with Israel. Despite the long history of conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, there are many people working on peaceful solutions that respect the rights of peoples on both sides. .
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