The middle east peace process: The prospects for progress after wye?

Although May's General Election in Israel represents a hiatus in the Middle East peace process, which has been stalled since the 1996 elections brought Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Coalition government came to power, 1999 may mark a new stage in the quest for stability. The Netanyahu government, even though it accepted the letter of the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, thwarted them in spirit, dragging out the negotiations with the Palestine Authority and continuing with the expansion of settlements on the West Bank. The Wye Plantation agreement on October 1998 represented a re-starting of the talks, some two-and-a-half years behind schedule.