Matters Still To Be Discussed - Israel/Palestine

As many may know, multiple conflicts taking place in 2010 often started as a simple disagreement between two nations a very long time ago. In my opinion, this is the case of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Of course, the issues that are still being negotiated are of great importance, but most of the citizens don’t even know how the hatred for the other nation began. This text will put into context the recent conflict, which is about the settlements for the construction in the West Bank area.

            Among different issues and negotiations, the Israeli construction moratorium forms a huge part in the discussions being held between the Prime Minister of Israel, Benyamin Netanyahu, who has held this position since 1996, and the Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas. In the recent months, the relationships between these two nations have been even more tense than usual because of the ending of the construction moratorium instated in Israel. This moratorium, which is a suspension of some kind of activity by the government, concerned the new housing construction by the Israeli in the territory of West Bank. This small land consists of 5 600 km². Although it is technically under Palestinian authority, the Israeli military has been there for a long time. This moratorium states that construction in the West Bank area has been frozen temporarily, for a ten month period. This time expired during the last week of the month of September 2010, and that is the reason for the tense discussions between the leaders of these populations.

            To make matters more complicated, the United States have been involved in these negotiations. Recently, the secretary of state of the country, Mrs Hillary Clinton, has been travelling to the middle-east with the purpose of reaching a compromise between the two heads of state. As an open ally to the Israeli state, the government of the United States has been trying to move forward recently in the peace negotiations.

            As of the Palestinian demands, it has been said more than once that the Prime Minister wants to extend the moratorium to permit the discussions to continue.

Abbas continues to state that his council does not want to end the discussions, although they will have to leave if the construction resumes after the end of the freeze. The US government does agree with Palestine on this point, the construction has to be put on hold once again, for negotiations to be peaceful. The United State’s Middle East envoy has said, echoing the President Barack Obama: ‘‘We think it makes sense to extend the moratorium, especially given that the talks are moving in a constructive direction.’’ On the other hand, the Israeli Prime Minister’s negative response to the end of the moratorium has been particularly frustrating for the Palestinian, the USA as well as any other nation involved. Netanyahu refused to extend the work stoppage any longer and so the settlement building resumed.

            In my point of view, this dispute cannot be judge so quickly. This conflict, as I mentioned previously, has so much history and hatred behind it that it is almost impossible for the citizens to ever agree on anything. In my opinion, the government of the United States should convince the Israeli government to stop the construction, as it is the only way to continue these negotiations in the right direction.

 

            All in all, these confrontations have been going for too long, and so nobody, not even the leaders of the nations, know what they are really fighting for anymore. One can only hope that these discussions will go smoothly. Moreover, one can only wish that there will not be another destructible situation, as there was with the Second Intifada.

2010-2011