ABSTRACT
Israel had offered the Palestinians over 90 per cent of the territory, had agreed to territorial exchange for the annexation of settlement blocks, to some partition of Jerusalem and to a sharing of sovereignty on the Temple Mount. Israeli identity is concerned, even an interim solution, such as a cease-fire, which delineates temporary borders, seems preferable to the present blurring which each contending sector of society can interpret according to its own values. The election of a government declaring such intentions immediately improved Israel's battered foreign relations, including those with Egypt and Jordan, as well as raising the hopes of the Palestinians regarding Israeli concessions towards a negotiated solution of the conflict. The Palestinians had never reconciled themselves to the existence of Israel, whose Jewish heritage was the basis of its legitimate presence in its historic homeland, military operations would probably be necessary to enforce the end of violence.
