Can Peace Exist?

Fabian Rodriguez

10C

Ms.Hickey

5-28-13

Can Peace Exist?

Can a treaty that was signed in the 1930’s last all the way to the present? In 1933 Israel and the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) signed a document called the Declaration of Principles. Which was the establishment of self rule in the Gaza Strip and the west bank. The final phases of the negotiations was talking about Jerusalem, settlements for the Israelis and settlements for Palestinian refugees and other things like borders and states. Both sides could not come to a conclusion so the Israelis still occupy thirty percent of the Gaza Strip and seventy percent of the West Bank. The Declaration was suppose to transfer power to the Palestinian but security remained an Israeli responsibility even though the Declaration of Palestinians stated that the Israeli forces would withdraw from the Gaza Strip. In 1999 Prime Minister Ehud Barak was elected and a formation of a labor party was formed to have peace talks with the Palestinians. In the summer of 2000 the peace talks were held at camp David and sponsored by President Bill Clinton. However it was a failure and the Israelis blamed the Palestinians for the failure, there were outbursts of violence saying Prime Minister Ehud Barak went farther than anyone to meet the Palestinians demand. The Palestinians took action and started attacking the Israeli troops and because of this the troops started using excessive military force. This has continued to the present.

The level of violence and the counter violence has intensified to a high level. There has been studies that show why the violence has risen. One of them being the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat attitude towards the process to peace. His views towards the Israelis is what is promoting the violence among other things between the Palestinians and the Israelis.