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The
History
of Israel
- A Chronological Presentation
4.
Peace With The Arabs? (1977 - 1993)
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Sadat,
Begin og Carter at the signing
ceremony of the peace treaty between
Israel and Egypt, 1979.
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1979 - Peace with Egypt
After four years of unsuccessful peace negotiations
in the wake of the Yom Kippur War the Egyptian president,
Anwar Sadat, took an unpresidented step and accepted
the Israeli prime minister, Menahem Begin's, invitation
and travelled to Jerusalem in order to discuss the
prospects of peace between the two countries. It was
a captivated Israeli public, who watched Sadat's televised
address to the Israeli parliament, the Knesset.
The ensuing negotiations were hosted by the American
presi-dent, Jimmy Carter, at his summer residence, Camp
David. In 1979 the parties signed a peace treaty, which
included a total Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Desert,
in return for Egyptian recognition of Israel's right
to exist along with respect for the agreed borders.
Regaining control of the Gaza Strip, also conquered
by Israel during the Six Day
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Jewish settlers are evacuated
from a rooftop during the dis-
mantlement of the town of
Yamit i Sinai, 1982. |
War twelve years earlier, was not in Egypt's interest.
The withdrawal from Sinai was completed in stages during
the following three years, and included the dismantlement
in 1982 of one larger and several smaller Jewish settlements
established since 1967. The peace treaty with Israel
was met with great resistance in the Arab World, and
in 1979 Egypt was excluded from the Arab League. In
1981 Sadat was murdered by a member of an Egyptian fundamentalist
Muslim organization.
1982
- The Lebanon War
In 1982 there was quiet on most of Israel's
borders. Only from Lebanon the PLO frequently mounted
attacks against northern Israel. Israel's defense
minister, Ariel Sharon, worked out a plan in cooperation
with Bashir Gemayel, the leader of a Christian militia
in Lebanon, to put an end to PLO's power base in the
civil war-torn country. Israel undertook the task
of neutralizing PLO's forces all the way to Beirut,
after which Gemayel's "Phalangist" militia
was to deal with the PLO guerrillas that had entrenched
themselves in the capital. When Gemayel had taken
over power in Lebanon, a peace deal was to be worked
out between the two countries.
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Lebanon and northern Israel.
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The Israeli forces invaded Lebanon on
June 6, 1982, and defeated both the PLO guerrillas and
the Syrian army, which had occupied eastern Lebanon,
and on June 13 reached southern Beirut. But Gemayel
refused to send his militia into the streets of West
Beirut. Instead the Israelis besieged West Beirut and
initiated a massive bombardment of PLO's positions in
the city. After two months the guerrillas gave up, and
were by agreement evacuated from Lebanon to other Arab
countries. PLO's leader, Yasser Arafat, went into exile
in Tunesia.
Gemayel was elected president in Lebanon,
but Israel's subsequent attempt to reach a peace agreement
with him failed. In September Gemayel was killed in
a bomb attack. Two days later his Christian Phalangists
massacred at least 700 Palestinians in the refugee
camps of Sabra and Shatila outside Beirut. The Israeli
army, which controlled the area, did not intervene.
After public protests in Israel, an Israeli commission
of inquiry found that Sharon indirectly shared responsibility
for the massacre, and he was forced to leave the post
of defense minister. In January 1985 Israel pulled
its forces out of Lebanon, with the exeption of a
10 km (6 mile) wide security buffer north of the Israeli
border.
1987 - The First "Intifada"
In December 1987 spontaneous riots broke out
in Gaza and the West Bank, with Palestinian youth attacking
Israeli soldiers and civilians with stones and Molotov
cocktails. The disturbances quickly developed into a
regular uprising with a general strike, boycott of Israeli
products and burning barricades in the
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Palestinian
youth throw stones against
Israeli soldiers, 1987. |
streets. PLO's attempt to direct the uprising from its
headquarters in Tunesia succeeded only to a limited extend,
while local groups, including the Islamic organization
Hamas, had more influence on the events. The Israeli police
and military tried to sup-press the demonstrations, and
there were many victims. When the "intifada"
died out in 1991, 160 Israelis had been killed. Of the
2100 Palestinians that lost their lives, almost half had
been executed by fellow Palestinians due to internal strife
or suspicion of cooperation with Israel.
1991 - The Gulf War
When Iraq invaded Kuwait in the summer of 1990,
Yasser Arafat and the Palestinians chose to side with
Saddam Hussein. During
the ensuing war with the international
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Tel Aviv under attack. Iraq
launched 39 Scud missiles
against Israel during the
Gulf War. |
coalition, many Palestinians cheered as Iraqi Scud missiles
rained down on Israel, while its entire population was
crammed into sealed bomb shelters for fear of chemical
and biological weapons. The missiles caused only limited
damage, however, and Israel avoided being dragged further
into the conflict. Due to the Palestinian support for
Saddam Hussein, the 200.000 Palestinians that had used
to work in Kuwait, were expelled. Saudi Arabia and other
Gulf states in opposition to Saddam Hussein completely
halted their financial support for the PLO.
1991 - The
Madrid Conference
On American initiative a peace conference
was arranged with the participation of Israel, Syria,
Lebanon and a Jordanian-Palestinian delegation. The
parties met in Madrid on November 1st, 1991, and both
Israelis and Palestinians expressed willingness to
negotiate a compromise on a transitional arrangement
with Palestinian self-government. The negotiations
continued in Washington, but even though the parties
met frequently throughout the following year, the
differences only grew. The Palestinian Islamist organization,
Hamas, in December of 1992 committed a string of terror
attacks against Israel, the latter responding by deporting
400 Hamas members to Lebanon. The Palestinian delegation
withdrew from the meetings in Washington, and though
they were resumed in the spring of 1993, the negotiations
lead nowhere.
Continue:
Chapter 4 - Peace With The Arabs? - Page 2
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