While both sides bear some responsibility for the failure of the peace process, there are several reasons why the peace process has continually failed:
- In 2000 Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat rejected Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's offer of a contiguous Palestinian state on 97% of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. According to American Envoy Dennis Ross, who brokered the Oslo Accords, this proposal met virtually all of the Palestinians’ demands.Instead of accepting this offer, Arafat walked away from the table and launched the Second Intifada—a campaign of terrorism that claimed more than 4,000 lives.
- In his autobiography, President Clinton blamed Yasser Arafat for the failure of the Oslo Peace talks.
- In 2008 Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made an even more generous offer to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. It included all of the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, and land equivalent to one hundred percent of the West Bank. Instead of making a counteroffer, President Abbas walked away from the negotiating table again.
- In March 2014, when Palistinian Authority (PA) President Abbas met with US President Obama, he refused to recognize Israel as a Jewish state and give up the Palestinian's "right of return" and also refused to commit to an "end of conflict."
- In 2020 US President Trump released a 181-page peace plan to resolve the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians called "Peace to Prosperity." Israel accepted the plan but the Palestinians and the Arab League did not.
October 7, 2023 – Israel's War with Hamas
On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched an attack on Israel from Gaza by air, sea, and ground, brutally massacring more than 1,200 innocent mostly civilians from upward of 30 countries and taking hostage to Gaza more than 240 others. Israel declared war, and the Biden administration expressed "unwavering support" for Israel with instruction for Israel to do everything is could to protect innocent Palestinian lives. Israel offered a ceasefire several times in exchange for hostages, but Hamas repeatedly rejected those proposals.
History proves that Palestinian leaders do not want an independent state.
Any lasting peace agreement would have to ensure security for Israel's citizens. Yet, the Palestinian leadership has never agreed to the basic security arrangements necessary to protect the Israeli people.
The culture of incitement in Palestinian schools, mosques, and media poisons the well for peace in future generations.
Palestinian leaders fill children's textbooks, summer camps, television programs, mosques, and official media outlets with incitement. Children are taught to value terrorism. They are taught to hate Israelis and Jews, that Jews are occupiers of the Land of Israel, and to be martyrs for the Palestinian cause—suicide bombers are glorified.Israel is demonized, and the existence of Israel is consistently denied. Schools focus on the Palestinian return to an exclusively Palestinian homeland. On October 7, 2023, Hamas militia invaded Southern Israel and massacred over 1,200 people, raped hundred, and took hundreds more hostage to Gaza on October 7, 2023. Sources say the roots of the horrific attack could be traced to what had been taught in Gaza schoolsfor generations. Jew-hatred quickly surged around the world, fueled by social mediathat spread rampant misinformation Israel's response to the attack, civilian deaths in Gaza, and the Holocaust.
Additional Resources
- Israel Palestinian Conflict: The Truth about the Peace Process(video)
- Why Isn't There a Palestinian State? (video)
- Out of Zion – Israel Face to Face with Rabbi Elie Mishel and Rabbi Rami Goldberg, Israel 365(video)
- Reason Why Peaceful Resolutions for the Arab-Israeli Conflict Always Fail(article)
- What Are Palestinian Children Reading in Their Textbooks?(video)
- UNRWA Home Study Materials for Kids Glorifying Terrorists(video)
- The Roots of Hamas' Terror attack can be found in Gaza's Schools(article)
- Suicide bombers are glorified.
