The  Five  Points  of  Peace:  Debate  Preparation    

   Tomorrow  you  will  be  participating  in  a  debate  on  the  five  points  of  peace  detailed  in  the  Oslo  Accords  as  a  fictional  character  from  either  Israel  or  the  Occupied  Territories.    In  preparation,  it  is  important  to  figure  out  what  your  assigned  character  thinks  about  each  issue  so  you  will  be  ready  share  his  or  her  opinions  with  your  classmates.    Below  is  a  graphic  organizer  that  asks  you  to  indicate  your  character’s  position  on  each  of  the  five  points  and  to  explain  exactly  why  he  or  she  holds  such  beliefs.    In  order  to  answer  these  questions,  review  the  descriptions  of  each  issue  (presented  on  this  page  and  the  next),  look  over  the  stances  taken  by  Israeli  and  Palestinian  negotiators  at  Oslo  (on  the  third  page),  and,  if  still  unsure,  visit  the  website  that  is  indicated  on  your  character  card  as  it  has  a  wealth  of  background  information  about  your  person.        Issue Character’s  Position   Explanation  of  Position  (Why?)  

Borders:  Borders  refers  not  only  to  drawn  lines  between  Israel  and  a  proposed  Palestinian  state,  but  how  to  best  secure  those  borders.  Characters  with  Borders  as  a  priority  are  often  ones  who  live  along  borders,  defend  borders,  or  are  somehow  affected  by  the  drawing  of  political  lines.                

   

Jerusalem:.  Jerusalem  is  a  major  point  of  contention  for  both  Israelis  and  Palestinians  because  of  the  city’s  historical  and  religious  importance.  The  most  important  sites  in  Judaism  and  Christianity  are  located  there,  as  is  the  third  most  important  site  in  Islam.  Both  Palestinians  and  Israelis  want  full  control  of  the  city,  with  religious  rights  for  all  who  live  there.  There  have  been  proposals  to  separate  the  city  between  East  and  West,  as  well  as  to  make  Jerusalem  an  international  city  with  free  access  for  all  religions.    

   

Issue Character’s  Position   Explanation  of  Position  (Why?)  

Resources  Resources  can  mean  many  things.  Water,  farmlands,  grazing  areas,  and  economic  zones  can  fall  under  Resources.  In  an  ideal  peace  agreement,  Israelis  and  Palestinians  would  have  enough  resources  to  become  self-­‐sufficient  states.                

                 

 

Settlements:  Settlements  are  areas  in  the  Occupied  Territories  that  are  controlled  by  Jewish  residents.  The  first  settlements  were  constructed  after  the  1967  War  as  a  way  of  claiming  seized  Palestinian  and  Syrian  territories.  The  Oslo  discussions  centered  around  settlements  constructed  in  the  West  Bank  and  Gaza  Strip  specifically,  and  it  is  recognized  that  these  settlements  are  illegal  under  international  law.  However,  two  or  three  generations  of  Israel  citizens  have  lived  in  the  oldest  of  these  settlements.    

   

Refugees  :  Refugees  mainly  refers  to  Palestinian  refugees  living  outside  of  Israel  and  the  Occupied  Territories,  though  there  are  refugees  who  live  in  the  Occupied  Territories  as  well.  Many  of  these  people  were  displaced  during  the  1948  and  1967  wars,  though  a  few  became  refugees  after  more  recent  conflicts.    Refugees  often  want  to  return  to  ancestral  lands  taken  by  Jewish  settlers,  making  their  situation  even  more  difficult  to  deal  with.      

   

 

Time  Magazine:  A  Peace-­Process  Primer  Issue   Palestinian  Position   Israeli  Position  Palestinian  State  and  its  borders:  The  Oslo  agreement  established  a  limited  form  of  self-­‐rule  for  Palestinians  living  in  the  main  population  centers  of  the  West  Bank  and  Gaza.  But  final  sovereignty  over  those  areas  remained  with  Israel,  and  the  Palestinian  demand  for  a  sovereign  state  was  left  to  "final  status"  talks  —  although  there  was  a  tacit  understanding  that  this  would  be  the  inevitable  outcome  of  the  peace  process.  The  final  borders  of  such  a  state  were  also  left  unresolved.  

The  Palestinians  insist  that  a  sovereign  state  is  their  right  as  a  people,  and  they  expect  that  state  to  comprise  all  of  the  Palestinian  territories  conquered  in  1967,  including  East  Jerusalem,  which  they  regard  as  their  capital.  They  argue  that  the  Palestinians  made  their  territorial  compromise  at  Oslo,  by  accepting  the  principle  of  statehood  only  in  the  West  Bank  and  Gaza  as  opposed  to  the  entire  state  of  Israel  once  demanded  by  the  PLO  —  and  they're  in  no  mood  to  be  talked  back  from  that  position.      

While  Barak  accepts  the  inevitability  of  a  Palestinian  state,  his  priority  is  ensuring  Israel's  security  —  a  Palestinian  nation  that  shares  borders  with  potentially  hostile  Arab  states  could  provide  a  lethal  military  advantage  for  Israel's  enemies.  Those  security  concerns  will  lead  Barak  to  limit  the  territorial  scope  of  a  Palestinian  state  —  probably  by  seeking  to  maintain  an  Israeli  military  buffer  along  the  Jordan  River  —  and  to  also  limit  the  scope  for  the  Palestinians'  development  of  their  own  army  and  the  extent  of  their  alliances  with  Israel's  enemies.  Barak  also  upholds  Israel's  exclusive  claim  on  Jerusalem,  and  wants  to  annex  those  parts  of  the  West  Bank  that  are  heavily  populated  by  Israeli  settlers.    

Jerusalem:  No  issue  in  the  conflict  between  Israel  and  the  Palestinians  is  more  emotional  than  Jerusalem.  A  big  reason:  because  Judaism's  holiest  site  and  Islam's  third-­‐holiest  site  are  located  within  the  city's  boundaries.  Half  of  the  city  was  under  Jordanian  control  until  the  1967  war,  when  it  was  reunified  after  Israel  drove  Jordan  out  of  the  West  Bank.      

The  Palestinians  have  always  regarded  Jerusalem,  or  Al  Quds,  as  they  call  it,  as  the  capital  of  their  future  state.  They  want  to  restore  a  divide  between  Israeli  and  Arab  sections,  with  the  religious  rights  of  all  guaranteed.      

Israel  insists  that  Jerusalem  is  its  "eternal"  capital  (although  most  countries  maintain  their  embassies  in  Tel  Aviv)  and  that  the  city  will  remain  undivided  under  its  control,  with  rights  of  religious  access  guaranteed  to  all.  

Israeli  Settlements:  Although  Israel  never  formally  annexed  the  territories  it  captured  in  the  1967  war,  it  began  settling  tens  of  thousands  of  Israelis  on  land  seized  from  Palestinians.  Today  there  are  155,000  Israeli  settlers  living  in  the  West  Bank  and  6,000  in  Gaza,  and  their  future  is  a  vexing  question  for  both  Israeli  and  Palestinian  leaders.      

The  Palestinians  have  always  maintained  that  Israeli  settlements  in  the  occupied  territories  are  illegal,  and  that  the  settlers  would  ultimately  have  to  be  removed  under  any  peace  agreement.  In  practice,  however,  they  have  been  forced  to  accept  the  reality  of  settlers'  remaining  in  small  enclaves  guarded  by  the  Israeli  military  in  the  countryside  and  in  such  Palestinian-­‐controlled  towns  as  Hebron.  Settlements  remain  flashpoints  for  violence  between  Israelis  and  Palestinians,  and  Arafat  will  seek  to  freeze  and  reduce  existing  settlements  in  areas  under  Palestinian  control.    

While  Barak  has  no  particular  ideological  commitment  to  the  settlers,  their  presence  to  some  extent  suits  his  objective  of  maintaining  an  Israeli  security  presence  throughout  most  of  the  West  Bank.  So  whereas  Israel  forcibly  ejected  settlers  when  it  handed  the  Sinai  peninsula  back  to  Egypt  in  1979,  in  the  West  Bank  it  will  insist  on  the  right  of  settlers  to  remain  in  the  territory  under  the  protection  of  the  Israeli  military.  

Refugees:  Israel  has  excluded  nearly  a  million  Palestinians  from  returning  to  homes  from  which  they  fled  during  the  1948  war  between  the  Jewish  state  and  her  Arab  neighbors.  Although  many  have  now  been  absorbed  as  citizens  in  countries  across  the  Arab  world,  50  years  later  1.1  million  Palestinians  still  live  in  refugee  camps  in  Lebanon,  Syria,  Jordan  and  the  Palestinian  territories.  (A  high  birth  rate  accounts  for  the  increase.)  A  further  2.5  million  Palestinians  are  formally  registered  as  refugees.  

Arafat  insists  on  the  right  of  the  refugees  to  return  to  their  original  family  homes,  even  though  he  recognizes  that  would  be  a  nonstarter  for  Israel.  He  also  expects  Israel  to  compensate  any  who  chose  to  remain  abroad  or  move  to  the  new  Palestinian  state.  

Israel  has  no  intention  of  allowing  Palestinians  to  return  to  property  seized  in  1948  for  fear  of  diminishing  the  Jewish  majority  in  Israel,  and  would  prefer  not  to  see  the  population  of  the  Palestinian  state  swelled  by  a  massive  influx  of  refugees  —  although  the  majority  of  diaspora  Palestinians  would  be  unlikely  to  choose  to  live  in  Gaza  or  the  West  Bank.