ABSTRACT
Throughout the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, the Zionist movement and Israel had the upper hand and time seems to work in Israel’s favor in terms of territorial gains, which come at the expense of the Palestinians and leave the conflict unresolved. This chapter examines Israel’s goals and strategies, the influence of public opinion and the central role of the military and militarism in shaping the process. Israel’s all but absolute military, economic, political and strategic superiority enabled it to forgo negotiations and adopt a strategy of issuing dictates, yielding good returns for the Israeli side but a loss of hope and collapse of trust in potential for resolution on the Palestinian side. Mediation attempts have failed, as mediators were perceived biased, the Palestinians perceived the American administration as supporting Israel while Israel perceived the Europeans as supporting the Palestinians. Consequently, a quarter of a century has passed since the Oslo Accords were signed, and the conflict continues without any progress toward a resolution.
