Predicaments of peace in the Middle East. (c2004)

Abstract

The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has been considered the most diligent conflict in the twentieth century. In spite of the involvement of the international community and the United Nations, all previous attempts to solve the conflict went unsuccessful because of mainly three reasons: The weak or biased role of the international community, the local actors' behavior and finally the vagueness of the texts of past attempts. That is why in order to reach a settlement of the Israeli and Palestinian question, the diplomatic quartet composed of the United States, the European Union, the Russian Federation and the Office of the Secretary General of the United Nations launched on April 30, 2003 a new peace plan known as the Roadmap. The success of this peace plan highly depends on the three factors mentioned above. If these factors still exist, obviously the roadmap will fail; if not the Roadmap will be able to achieve its objective and solve the conflict.