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ABSTRACT
This article records my interview with Professor Ambassador Itamar Rabinovich. We discussed the keys for successful peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians; the differences between Camp David 1978 and Camp David 2000; The Oslo Accords; the role of the United States as a mediator and the potential of other countries to become mediators; the viability of a two-state solution; peace with Syria; Taba; Annapolis; the Israeli evacuation of Gaza, and the rise of Hamas. The interview assesses the positive and negative lessons and implications of the peace process, and the likelihood of bringing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to a close.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. In August 1978, President Jimmy Carter invited Prime Minister Menachem Begin and President Anwar Sadat to Camp David to negotiate a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace. The summit began on September 5 and lasted 13 days, during which the Americans successfully mediated a peace agreement. On 17 September 1978, Sadat, Begin, and Carter signed the Camp David Peace Accords in Washington, D.C. See Carter, Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President.
2. Bercovitch, ed., Resolving International Conflicts; Eizenstat, President Carter: The White House Years. Interview with President (ret.) Professor Aharon Barak, former legal advisor to PM Begin at Camp David 1978 (Herzliya, July 8, 2018).
3. Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini, known as Yasser Arafat, was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization from 1969 to 2004 and President of the Palestinian National Authority from 1994 to 2004.
4. In his 29-year career in the U.S. Foreign Service, Daniel Kurtzer served as ambassador to Israel (2001–2005) and to Egypt (1997–2001). See Kurtzer et al., The Peace Puzzle.
5. An American diplomat; expert on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and U.S. policy in the Middle East. Miller is a former adviser to six secretaries of state (George Schultz to Colin Powell), and he helped shape America’s policy in the region for more than two decades. See Miller, The Much Too Promised Land.
6. Miller, “How Not to Host a Summit.” See also Thrall, “Israel & the US: The Delusions of Our Diplomacy.”
7. William Jefferson Clinton served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. See his book My Life.
8. Donald John Trump is the 45th and current President of the United States; he took office on 20 January 2017.
9. Books include: Syria under the Ba’th: 1963–1966: Army-Party Symbiosis; The War for Lebanon, 1970–1985; The Road Not Taken: Early Arab-Israeli Negotiations; The Brink of Peace: The Israeli-Syrian Negotiations; The Lingering Conflict; The View from Damascus; Receding Horizon; Yitzhak Rabin: Soldier, Leader, Statesman.
10. Zartman, Ripe for Resolution.
11. Yitzhak Rabin, 1922–1995; prime minister 1974–1977, and 1992 until his assassination in 1995.
12. The Camp David peace summit between Israel and the PLO was convened by President Clinton 11–24 July, 2000, at the presidential retreat outside Washington, D.C. See Pressman, “Visions in Collision.”
13. Muhammad Anwar el-Sadat was the third President of Egypt, serving from 15 October 1970, until his assassination on 6 October 1981. See Sadat, In Search of Identity.
14. Menachem Begin was prime minister of Israel from 1977 to 1983.
15. Ehud Barak, prime minister of Israel, 1999–2001.
16. Aharon Barak was Dean of the Faculty of Law, The Hebrew University prior to his appointment as Israel’s Legal Advisor to the Government. Subsequently he served as justice on the Supreme Court. Barak presided over the Court between 1995 and 2006.
17. Lieutenant General Moshe Dayan was PM Begin’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.
18. Weizman was commander of the Israeli Air Force before he entered politics. He was PM Begin’s Minister of Defense. See his book The Battle for Peace.
19. Dr. William Quandt served as a staff member on the American National Security Council (1972–1974, 1977–1979). Author of Peace Process.
20. Harold Henry Saunders served as the United States Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research between 1975 and 1978, and United States Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs between 1978 and 1981.
21. Ambassador Dennis Ross served as special Middle East coordinator under President Clinton, and is author of The Missing Peace.
22. Martin Indyk served as U.S. ambassador to Israel from 1995 to 1997 and again from 2000 to 2001. He also served as special assistant to President Bill Clinton and senior director for Near East and South Asian affairs at the National Security Council (1993–1995) and as assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs in the U.S. Department of State (1997–2000). Indyk is the author of Innocent Abroad.
23. The Oslo peace channel was established in 1993 by Yossi Beilin, Terje Rød-Larsen and Yair Hirschfeld who understood Yassir Arafat’s need to initiate a new path for relationships with Israel. See Pruitt, “Ripeness Theory and the Oslo Talks.”
24. On 16 September 1977, Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan flew secretly to Morocco and met with Egyptian deputy prime minister Hassan Tohami. See Aderet, “Behind the Scenes of Anwar Sadat’s Historic Visit to Jerusalem”; and Zion, “Untold story of the Mideast talks.”
25. Sicherman, Palestinian Autonomy, Self-Government and Peace.
26. Dr. Hirschfeld is an Israeli academic who was Beilin’s partner for negotiations with the Palestinians for a number of years. See Hirschfeld, Track-Two Diplomacy toward an Israeli-Palestinian Solution 1978–2014.
27. Ron Pundak was an Israeli historian and journalist. See his book Secret Channel.
28. See Cohen-Almagor, “The Oslo Peace Process: Interview with Joel Singer.”
29. Ehud Olmert, Israeli prime minister, 2006–2009. See his book In First Person.
30. Bashar Hafez al-Assad has been the President of Syria since 17 July 2000.
31. The Arab Peace Initiative, initiated by Saudi Arabia, a succinct 7-point proposal to end the Arab–Israeli conflict that was endorsed by the Arab League in 2002 at the Beirut Summit, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1844214.stm. See also Friedman, “An Intriguing Signal From the Saudi Crown Prince.”
32. See Waage, Peacemaking is a Risky Business.
33. Another backchannel negotiating track was established between Shlomo Ben-Ami and Abu Ala, who were joined by Gilead Sher and Hassan Asfour. This track known as the ‘Stockholm track’ because negotiaitons too place in part in Harpsund, Sweden. The first round of talks took place from May 11 to 17 May 2000. The second round began on May 20 but was suspended because of violence that erupted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The third and final round was held in Israel in June of the same year. These talks led to Camp David. See Eriksson, Small-State Mediation in International Conflicts.
34. Foreign Minister Johan Jorgen Holst of Norway (1993–1994) helped guide the secret talks between Israel and the PLO.
35. At that time, Shimon Peres was Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Rabin government.
36. Warren Christopher, U.S. secretary of state, 1993–1997.
37. Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, is the President of the Palestinian Authority. He has been the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization since 11 November 2004, and Palestinian president since 15 January 2005.
38. John Forbes Kerry served as the 68th United States Secretary of State from 2013 to 2017.
39. Benjamin Netanyahu was Israel’s prime minister during Kerry’s attempts to neogiate between Israel and the PLO.
40. Barack Hussein Obama served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017.
41. Avi Gabbay became leader of the Israeli Labour Party in 2017.
42. Amnon Lipkin-Shahak was the IDF’s 15th General Staff (1995–1998).
43. Rabin handed to Christopher and Ross the so-called ‘deposit’ or the ‘pocket’ on Golan. He gave to Christopher and Ross a diplomatic gift, that is, Israel would be ready to meet Assad’s requirements on territory, if Assad would be ready to meet Israel’s requirements on security and peace. See Cohen-Almagor, “The Israel-PLO Peace Talks.”
44. Madeleine Albright, secretary of state, 1997–2001, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Madeleine-Albright.
45. On 15–23 October 1998, Israel and the Palestinian Authority were invited by Clinton to take part in negotiations in Wye River, Maryland. After intensive negotiations that included Clinton’s active participation, the Wye River Memorandum was signed. It restored old Israeli promises such as the opening of a Palestinian airport and a safe passage route between Gaza and the West Bank, as well as old Palestinian promises (publicly renouncing the PLO Charter’s anti-Israel provisions, collecting unauthorized arms, and implementing antiterrorist actions). Its novelty was linking phased Israeli withdrawals to Palestinian actions and greatly enlarging the role of the United States as an active participant in both monitoring and judging the performance of the parties.
46. Between 21–27 January 2001, Israel and the Palestinian Authority held peace talks in Taba. These negotiations ultimately failed when Yasser Arafat did not accept a final bridging document presented by President Clinton. Shortly thereafter, elections were held in Israel and PM Ehud Barak was voted out of office. See Pundak, “From Oslo to Taba.”
47. Ariel Sharon, prime minister of Israel, March 2001-April 2006.
48. On 27 November 2007, US President Bush convened an international conference in Annapolis, MD to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas reached a joint understanding in which they agreed to launch continuous bilateral negotiations in an effort to conclude a peace treaty by the end of 2008 and to implement the American Road Map to a Permanent Two-State Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.
49. Condoleezza Rice, national security adviser, 2001–2005; secretary of state, 2005–2009. Author of No Higher Honor.
50. PM Sharon’s bureau chief.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Raphael Cohen-Almagor
Raphael Cohen-Almagor, DPhil Oxford University; Chair in Politics, Founding Director of the Middle East Study Group, The University of Hull, and Distinguished Visiting Professor, Faculty of Laws, University College London (UCL). Raphael taught at Oxford, Jerusalem, Haifa, UCLA, Johns Hopkins, and Nirma University (India). In 2007–2008, he was Senior Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He is the author of many books, most recently Confronting the Internet’s Dark Side (2015).