ABSTRACT
The quest for peace in the Middle East is one of the most challenging issues in international affairs. Generations of politicians and activists have tried to overcome the deep cleavages that have separated Israelis and Palestinians for decades. None of them has succeeded. The secret Oslo negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians that stretched from December 1992 to September 1993 and the process that followed came closer than any other attempt to bring peace to the Middle East. Yet, the Oslo process too failed to deliver a final settlement between Israelis and Palestinians on the future of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Many initiatives to work out a solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict followed, some of them sponsored by the USA, by the European Union, by other third parties. There are an infinite number of plans about how to resolve the conflict. All of them, like the Oslo agreements, have thus far proved unable to steer both sides towards reconciliation. Today, the stalemate continues and threatens to escalate into violence any moment – with deadly consequences felt not only in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Ramallah or Gaza City, but in many other parts of the world. Every day, the world holds its breath and watches anxiously how Israelis and Palestinians deal with each other. Looking back to the foundations of the Oslo process and identifying the reasons why this process failed might provide some insight about Israeli-Palestinian relations in the future.
