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Breaking Away Towards Peace in the Middle East

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2009

Frans A.M. Alting von Geusau
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Extract

For many years after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, peace in the Middle East has been an elusive goal, despite the continuous attention given to it by the United Nations and the (mainly American)efforts to promote negotiations between the parties concerned. The affirmation by the UN Security Council “that the fulfilment of Charter principles requires the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East” failed to break the threefold deadlock barring the way towards peace. The Arab states and the PLO refused to recognise Israel's right to exist as a sovereign state in the Middle East. Their goal of a ‘comprehensive peace’ was peace without Israel. Israel refused to recognise the existence of a Palestinian people as defined by the PLO, entitled to exercise its right of self-determination. Its goal was to conclude peace treaties with neighbouring states, without the creation of a Palestinian state, however. In the context of the global conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union (from 1945–1989) neither side could achieve peace on its own terms.

Keywords

EgyptIsraelJordanPalestineself-determination.
Type
Current Legal Developments
Information
Leiden Journal of International Law , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , Spring 1995 , pp. 81 - 101
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation of the Leiden Journal of International Law 1995

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References

1. See UN Doc. S/RES/242 (1967).

2. For the legal argument, see H. Cattan, Palestine, the Arabs & Israel, The Search for Justice (1969); N. Feinberg, On an Arab Jurist's Approach to Zionism and the State of Israel (1971).

3. See 17 ILM 1463 (1978).

4. See 18 ILM 362 (1979).

5. See 17 ILM 1470 (1978).

6. See 17 ILM 1466 (1978).

7. Letter of 17 September 1978 on ‘implementation of comprehensive settlement’, 17 ILM 1474 (1978).

8. See letters of 17 September 1978 on ‘Jerusalem’, 17 ILM 1473 (1978).

9. Agreement on a Framework for the Conclusion of a Peace Treaty, 17 ILM 1470 (1978)(emphasis added).

10. Agreement on a Framework for Peace in the Middle East, 17 ILM 1469 (1978).

11. See Egypt-Israel Arbitration Tribunal, Award in Boundary Dispute Concerning the Taba Area, 27 ILM 1421–1538 (1988); 1989 Agreement Regarding the Permanent Boundary Between Egypt and Israel and Tourism in the South Sinai, 28 ILM 611–619 (1989).

12. Letter of 17 September 1978 on ‘Sinai settlements’, 17 ILM 1471 (1978).

13. Letter of 17 September 1978 on ‘Sinai settlements’, 17 ILM 1471 (1978).

14. Emphasis added.

15. Heller, M.A., The Israeli-Palestinian Accord: An Israeli View, 93 Current History 56 (1994).Google Scholar

16. Middle East, 21 UNIDIR Newsletter 7 (1993).

17. See 32 ILM 1525 (1993).

18. See 33 ILM 622 (1994).

19. Published by the Israel Information Service (on file with author).

20. As reiterated in a letter of Rabin of 4 May 1994, 33 ILM 638 (1994).

21. Published by the Israel Information Service (on file with author).

22. Id.

23. Id.

24. 33 ILM 637 (1994).

25. See 33 ILM 569 (1994).

26. See, eg., letter of Rabin of 4 May 1994, 33 ILM 639 (1994).

27. Published by the Israel Information Service (on file with author).

28. The United Nations has not been involved in the negotiations.

29. See 1155 UNTS 331 (entered into force on 27 January 1980).

30. Cf. A. Verdross & B. Simma, Universelles Völkerrecht, Theorie und Praxis 243–247 (3rd ed., 1984).

31. Palestine National Council's Political Communique and Declaration of Independence of 15 November 1988, 27 ILM 1670 (1988).

32. See UN Doc. A/RES/3314 (XXIX), adopted by the UN General Assembly on 14 December 1974.

33. Cf. Gros Espiell, H., Self-Determination and Jus Cogens, in A. Cassese (Ed.), UN Law/Fundamental Rights, Two Topics in International Law 167–171 (1979).Google Scholar

34. Cf. Western Sahara case, 1975 ICJ Rep. 12 (Advisory Opinion of 16 October, 1975).

35. See 999 UNTS 171 and 993 UNTS 3, respectively.

36. Art. 7 refers to “peoples under colonial and racist regimes or other forms of alien domination”. When read in conjuction with Security Council Resolution 242, the latter applies to the Palestinian people.

37. Cf.Kirgis, F.L. Jr, The Degrees of Self-Determination in the United Nations Era, 88 AJIL 304–310 (1994).Google Scholar

38. Emphasis added.

39. Letter of 17 September 1978 on ‘Jerusalem’, 17 ILM 1473 (1978).

40. Id.

41. See para. 3(b); this text has been included as Art. 9(2) in the Treaty of Peace between Israel and Jordan of 26 October 1994, 34 ILM 46 (1995).

42. See letter of Israel's Minister of Foreign Affairs to his Norwegian counterpart of October 1993, reproduced in R. Lapidoth, Jerusalem: The Legal and Political Background, 3 Justice 13 (1994).

43. Published by the Israel Information Service (on file with author).

44. The Treaty consists of 30 articles. It has five annexes: I, on the International Boundary;II, on Water Related Matters; El, on Combatting Crime and Drugs; IV, on Environment;V, on Border Crossing Points Procedures; and Agreed Minutes.

45. Cf. Green, J.L., The Contemporary Law of Armed Conflict 246–248 (1993).Google Scholar