The Gaza Strip

Since the Gaza strip has been under Israeli rule since the Arab and Israeli war of 1967, the Jews have lived alongside their enemies, while hate between the two groups has steadily grown. Jews with strong nationalistic ties have long resented the encroachment of the Palestinians on their holy land; in addition, the Gaza Strip has historically been valuable as a trade route between Arabia and the Mediterranean world, and many have sought to control it. For these reasons, the obstacles to peace are many. However, such obstacles to peace could more certainly be overcome if the Strip were administered by a disinterested third party--one whose arbitrating influence would obligate both sides to peace.

Because this is not the best of all possible political worlds, it is not likely that a third party will intervene. As far as Israel is concerned, the influence of the Palestinians is unwelcome enough. A third influence on their native land would be unthinkable. Accepting the current state of negotiations between Arafat

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Palestinians would be content with isolation, as long as they could marshall their own police force, administer their own boundaries, and, at the very least, fly their own flag. On the other hand, Israeli nationalists see no gain in relinquishing any more of their native land than they have been forced to do throughout their arduous history. The following passage from the Time "Men of the Year" article expresses the opposite poles of Palestinian-Israeli interests: Muslim fundamentalists and other militant factions have vowed to break any deal that delivers less than an independent Palestinian state now, this instant. Fanatical settlers and other right-wing Jews swear never to give up one inch of the West Bank soil that is part of what they call Eretz Yisrael, the land God gave to the Jews. The pressure from enemies only complicates an already knotty negotiation. When the two [Arafat and Rabin] were alone with President Clinton just before the ceremony in Washington, Rabin recalls, "Arafat and I didn't exchange anything, except I told him it's going to be very difficult to implement the accord. He said, 'I know.'" (42) Rabin believes that Arafat is a murderer and terrorist, but one with which he can do business. Arafat
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2369
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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