ABSTRACT
What are we to make of this element of parity, commensurability, this common denominator, indeed, this language whose terminology can perhaps be equally understood by all the parties to the conflict? Firstly we must be more precise; obviously there can be no question of a common political ideology, or psychological or ethnic affinity after twenty-five years of intense hostility and total antagonism. This is especially true in so far as the Arab-Israeli conflict does not fit the generally accepted classification of the major conflicts the world has known since World War Two. It is peculiar in that it has been almost impervious to the changes in the international climate brought about by the move from Cold War to détente. At least until the October war the conflict was distinguished by clear polarisation, characteristic of the Cold War.
