ABSTRACT
The conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors has ranked among the most dangerous and intractable for so long that it may be difficult to accept the proposition that its basic dimensions have significantly changed. Both the end of the cold war and the crushing defeat of Iraq in the Gulf War had a major impact on the Arab-Israeli conflict. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s the Arab-Israeli conflict became inextricably linked to the ongoing cold war. Two facets of a future Arab-Israeli conflict deserve mention: terrorism and oil. The conscious resort to terror have accompanied all of the recent conflicts in the Middle East, whether they have involved Palestinians, Lebanon, Iraq, or Iran. In an optimistic scenario for the 1990s, continuing negotiations would lead to agreements between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Both Israeli society and Israeli politics are deeply divided over the question of how best to deal with the Palestinian challenge.
