THE UN, IGOS, NGOS AND THE ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT

THE UN, IGOS, NGOS AND THE ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT (1988-1998)

This research paper discusses the efforts of the United Nations (UN), other international government organizations (IGOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and individuals in furthering attempts to end the Arab-Israeli conflict during the past decade and analyzes their role in the peace process.

The United Nations and other third party intermediaries had relatively little to do with the normalization of relations between the State of Israel and the Kingdom of Jordan which was achieved in 1994 by direct bilateral negotiations after forward movement was achieved through the Oslo Accords in the talks between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) concerning Palestinian issues. Despite the efforts of third parties, primarily the United States, talks between Israel and Syria have failed to make much progress during the past decade.

Resolutions 242 and 338 adopted by the UN Security Council in previous decades are important parts of the Oslo Accords. However the UN itself has been marginalized in the Arab-Israeli peace process itself during the past decade, especially since 1991. Other third party intermediary groups and individuals have facilitated the opening and maintenance of a direct dialogue between Israel and the PLO which achieved considerable momentum in 1992-1994. The peace process has made much less progress since then for a variety of reasons relating to internal Israeli political

rnment of Israel, then it would also be possible to 'mobilize' liberal American Jews in support of a dialogue between Israel and the PLO and between the United States and the PLO (78). At the end of March Andersson met with Shultz who heard him out and did not discourage him from pursuing this plan. In May he sent one of his deputies, Pierre Schori, to the United States to meet with several American Jews, Stanley Sheinbaum, a wealthy Los Angeleno active in the American chapter of the Israeli Peace Now movement, and Rita Hauser, a New York lawyer, Republican and Peace Now activist and Drora Kass, New York director of the Tel Aviv-based International Center for Peace in the Middle East. Other members of Andersson's staff reported that "a moderating trend was indeed emerging in Tunis" and that, in particular, the PLO's #3 official, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) was becoming more interested in a political settlement with Israel (Segev 82). On November 15, 1988 the Palestine National Council met in Algiers and published a statement proclaiming an independent state of Palestine. Then on November 20, American Jewish 'peaceniks' Sheinbaum, Hauser and Kass met in Stockholm under the auspices of the Swedish Foreign Ministry with Khaled e

Category: Foreign - T