ABSTRACT
The State of Israel seems closer than ever to its professed loftiest ideal: contractual peace with all its Arab neighbours, first and foremost the Palestinians. The Declaration of Principles on Palestinian Interim Self-Government Arrangements, signed on the White House Lawn on 13 September 1993, was a watershed in the one-hundred-year war between Arabs and Jews. The most implacable foes of the Israeli Palestinian agreement would concede that it has changed the Middle Eastern political landscape beyond recognition. This chapter explores the significance and implications of the nascent peace process for Israel, its security, economic well-being and international standing. The special relationship with the United States, which plunged to one of its lowest ebbs during the latter part of the Bush presidency, has made an impressive recovery following Labours ascendency in June 1992 and the resultant reinvigoration of the peace process; so have Israels relations with the European Community.
