Word: oslo
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...decade ago, the diplomatic fallout of Gulf War I saw Israel being dragged reluctantly into negotiations with Palestinian representatives that laid the foundation for the Oslo Accords. Sharon can be counted on to do everything in his power to avoid history repeating itself...
...year-old prince, widely regarded as the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia, simply suggested that the Arab world would normalize relations with Israel if the Israelis withdrew to their 1967 borders. That was, in essence, a restatement of U.N. Resolution 242, which guided the Oslo peace process and was restated as U.S. policy by Secretary of State Powell last October. The sweetener, perhaps, was the notion of "normalization" rather than simply 242's requirements for recognition of Israel and peace. That, and also the prince's suggestion that he would use his considerable political clout to persuade the Arab...
...Nobody's expecting Ariel Sharon to sign on to the plan. A champion of Israeli settlement outside the 1967 borders who fiercely rejected the Oslo agreements from the very outset, there's little for Sharon to like in Abdullah's proposal. But by pitching it directly to the Israeli people, he managed to generate significant domestic pressure on Sharon to take it seriously. (And it's worth remembering that the peace plan being touted by Peres is based on the same principle as Abdullah...
...potential emergence of a new diplomatic initiative puts Sharon in a difficult position. A fierce opponent of the Oslo Accords and a long-time champion of Israeli settlement in the territories occupied in 1967, the Israeli leader can't find much to like in what the Saudi proposal requires of Israel. And yet he can't afford to ignore it, either. The principle of negotiating a withdrawal to something close to the 1967 borders is a recurring theme of all of the long-term peace plans currently in circulation. And Sharon, at least for now, lacks an alternative. He remains...
...which is familiar territory to old Middle-East hands - in essence, the new proposal simply restates the principles of U.N. Resolution 242, which in turn form the basis of the Oslo peace process of U.S. policy on the conflict - "withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied in the (1967) conflict" and "termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force...