Land for peace

Land for peace is a general principle proposed for resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict by which the State of Israel would relinquish control of all or part of the territories it conquered in 1967 in return for peace with and recognition by the Arab world.

Background

The formula appeared for the first time in UN Security Council Resolution 242; it has since then become the main guideline of American and international policy regarding the conflict.

Land for Peace was first used as the basis for Israel's peace treaty with Egypt in 1979, which included an Israeli retreat from the Sinai in exchange for economic assistance to both sides from the United States and a peace treaty with Egypt. The international community supports the same principle for the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. In the Camp David Accords of 1978, the establishment of a Palestinian self-governing authority is envisioned; at this time however, Jordan was regarded as a representative of the Palestinians. Numerous statements by Israeli officials indicated that much of the Israeli establishment wanted to follow a similar course with Jordan and the West Bank. However, Jordan withdrew its claims to the West Bank and subsequently signed a peace treaty with Israel that included only minor border adjustments. The principle reappeared in the Oslo accords with the PLO. The hand-over of land in return for peaceful co-existence is a feature of most Proposals for a Palestinian state.

Criticism

The forced eviction by Israel of its settlers and military forces in entirety from the ground territory of the Gaza strip has been put forth as a 'test case' of "Land for Peace" with the Palestinians.

*This 'test case' is argued by some to show the failure of the "Land for Peace" strategy with the Palestinians:
**Desecration of Jewish religious places immediately took place following this withdrawal.Fact|date=May 2007
**Rockets launched against Israeli targets continued almost immediately after the Israeli withdrawal and have increased in the time since [ [http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Palestinian+terror+since+2000/Missile+fire+from+Gaza+on+Israeli+civilian+targets+Aug+2007.htm#statistics Palestinian terrorists in Gaza continue to fire Kassam rockets at Israeli civilian targets ] ] .
**The attacks from the Gaza Strip are continuing today [ [http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/7687A0D7-99E0-41F1-86D7-90605E71910E.htm Al Jazeera English - News - Israelis Hurt In Gaza Rocket Attack ] ]
**The area is now being used to smuggle weapons into Israel [ [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,222564,00.html FOXNews.com - Israel Warns Gaza Weapons Smuggling, Rocket Attacks Will Lead to 'Invasion' - Middle East Map | News | Crisis ] ]
**Tunnels are being built under the border for use in the smuggling of weapons and fighters [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/04/gazas_tunnels/html/1.stm Bbc News ] ]
**Is presumed that Hamas is the main organization behind the smuggling and tunnels, though other groups are likely involved as well [ [http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=949 DEBKAfile - Karni Tunnel as Hamas Hidden Arm into Israel’s Western Negev ] ]

However, it is countered that the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip is not a valid test case because Israel is continuing its "occupation", demolition of Palestinian property and erection of outposts, which are in de facto breach of International Law. And despite having withdrawn its settlers, there are still ground forces (i.e., Israel has not relinquished enough).:
*As not all of the Palestinian territories are free from occupation, "resistance" to occupation from the Gaza Strip is still justified, even through further resistance will result in an eventual Israeli take-over of Gaza.

*The resistance' mission is to counter Israeli occupation; if the occupation was lifted, the Palestinian were granted the universal right of free passage and granted sovereignty in Gaza, the Palestinian authority will be appeased and the Palestinians would have no more reason to launch rockets or smuggle weapons. However, Israel prefers to keep a foothold in the strip to ensure security.

*Israel still controls the airspace and water of the Gaza strip, so the occupation of that territory alone still continues [ [http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/01/26/isrlpa17891.htm Israel/Gaza: Israeli Blockade Unlawful Despite Gaza Border Breach (Human Rights Watch, 26-1-2008) ] ]

*Israel's limiting of trade relations and blockades with the Gaza Strip, the International Community's suspension of aid following the election of a Hamas-led government and the erection of the Israeli West Bank barrier constitutes a siege which justifies continued resistance [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6672/is_200104/ai_n26613698 Al Jazeera English - News - Israel tightens blockade - also refer to the 2008 blockade ] ]

Arab-Israeli peace diplomacy and treaties

*Paris Peace Conference, 1919
*Faisal-Weizmann Agreement (1919)
*1949 Armistice Agreements
*Camp David Accords (1978)
*Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty (1979)
*Madrid Conference of 1991
*Oslo Accords (1993)
*Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace (1994)
*Camp David 2000 Summit
*Peace process in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
*Projects working for peace among Israelis and Arabs
*List of Middle East peace proposals
*International law and the Arab-Israeli conflict

External links

* [http://www.chabad.org/search/keyword.asp?kid=3290 A collection of articles that speak about Land for "Peace".] chabad.org
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3518296759593973459&q=kahane A video shiur about Land for Peace]

References