The Palestine-Israel Conflict: A Basic Introduction by Gregory Harms & Todd M. Ferry

Author:Gregory Harms & Todd M. Ferry [Harms, Gregory & Ferry, Todd M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History
ISBN: 9780745399263
Google: q20DkAEACAAJ
Goodreads: 34448187
Publisher: Pluto Press
Published: 2017-01-15T11:56:31+00:00

POST-LEBANON DIPLOMACY

The bloodshed and destruction wrought in Lebanon in the early 1980s was punctuated by diplomatic initiatives. In the space of two weeks, autumn 1982 saw three different peace proposals placed on the table. President Reagan’s administration created the Reagan Plan (September 1), calling for Palestinian autonomy and federation of the West Bank and Gaza with Jordan, but no statehood; a freeze on construction of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories; Israeli withdrawal in return for Arab peace; and a determination of the status of Jerusalem through negotiations. Reagan also sent a separate note to Begin promising that no settlements would be dismantled. Israel rejected the plan outright while Arafat and King Hussein remained open to the possibilities.

One week later, at an Arab summit in Fez, Morocco, the Fez Plan was produced.39 This plan called for: full Israeli withdrawal (in accordance with Arab interpretation of UN 242); a Palestinian state under the PLO; compensation for refugees; peace and security for regional states; and the dismantling of Israeli settlements in Israel. And a week after that the Soviet Union followed up the Fez Plan with the Brezhnev Plan, named after Russia’s prime minister. The Russians, who supported the Fez Plan while judging the Reagan Plan a “farce,”40 echoed what was outlined at the Arab summit, except the Soviet plan referred to Israel by name; the Fez Plan makes only implicit mention. In addition to the Reagan Plan, Israel rejected the subsequent two programs. This inflexibility over the occupied territories would survive another change of leadership.

In addition to growing protests over the war in Lebanon, the issue of lost Israeli lives became a foreground issue, which in turn increased protests. Of the 600 IDF personnel who died in the war, roughly half had died in the sustained occupation after the PLO had been evacuated.41 Coming on top of a list of failed achievements – no treaty with Lebanon, heightened Palestinian nationalism – Menachem Begin resigned from his premiership early and retired into obscurity (August 1983). The new prime minister, Yitzhak Shamir, would only hold the post exclusively for a year, until elections (July 1984) where the two main political parties, Likud and Labor, ended up splitting the vote, indicative of a polarized public. The two parties would combine to form a coalition government, the leaders of which would each spend two years as prime minister: Shamir for Likud, and Shimon Peres for Labor.

After the PLO left Beirut, Arafat set up a new headquarters (the third) in Tunisia’s capital city of Tunis. He also faced deep divisions within sections of the PLO, especially his own branch, Fatah. This internal dissent was a by-product of the defeat under the Israeli invasion, the Sabra–Shatila massacre, and Arafat’s continued diplomatic efforts along with his moderate involvement with the various peace plans – Reagan, Fez, and Brezhnev. Though condemned by Israel as a terrorist enemy of the Jewish state, certain factions of Arafat’s organization condemned him with equal ferocity for being a diplomatic moderate with pro-Western leanings.

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