Issues and challenges of Palestinian officials in the Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations 2001-2009

Abstract

This study investigates the Palestinian official perspective on the Bush administration`s role and position in the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations during 2001-2009 particularly with reference to the 2003 Road Map and whether the US was serious in resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It discusses the reasons, according to the Palestinians, behind the US intervention in the conflict and the Palestinians’ acceptance of the US mediation. In addition, it focuses on the reasons for the failure of the US mediation in achieving the desired goal of the negotiations: the two-state solution. The study used a survey and interviewed Palestinian officials. It also used official documents and secondary sources. It used William Zartman’s approach of third-party role in the negotiations as the framework of analysis. The study found that George W. Bush’s administration was biased and its policies were prejudiced in favour of the State of Israel. The respondents overwhelmingly supported the view that the US was not a serious, credible or effective mediator in resolving the conflict. The research also found that the US imposed itself on the parties to mediate the conflict while Palestinians accepted its mediation as a result of lack of other influential mediators and their fear that the rejection of the US mediation would lead to negative consequences on the Palestinians. The study found that the US and Israel are mainly responsible for the failure of the negotiations since they only wanted to negotiate the Palestinian’s rights but did not achieve them. The study recommends that the US, as the leading mediator in the peace process for decades, should play an effective role in the peace process by putting pressure on the conflictants to observe their obligations. The study concludes that for a just and durable resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the US should take into consideration the interests of the Palestinians besides that of Israel’s in any final agreement and allow other powers or states such as Russia, the EU, the Arab and the Muslim World to play a serious role in the peace process.