In some ways the treaty was successful in resolving conflict because peace was brought to the area after 30 years and as Carter was hoping it was one step close towards total peace involving all Arab countries in the Middle East, not just Egypt.
However, the treaty seemed to be more unsuccessful then anything because giving autonomy was rejected and never put into effect and there was still much fighting on the West Bank, the Israelis still put force against Palestinians. Also other Arab states denounced Sadat so Egypt was isolated for years after. They did not follow his example and make peace so the part going towards full peace was definitely unsuccessful. His own Egyptian soldiers assassinated Sadat because they believed he had disgraced Islam with this deal. Another unsuccessful factor was Begin’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982, knowing that Egypt would not now interfere. This invasion was condemned by the world. Making war with Lebanon created further conflict. So although the peace treaty was a major breakthrough of the relationship between Arabs and Israelis the Palestinian problem remained at the centre of conflict, which was far from resolved.
The other peace agreements, the Oslo Accords, were between Israeli leader, Rabin, and the leader of the Palestinian's, Arafat. In September 1993 they signed an agreement at the White House, where Bill Clinton was president at the time and so persuaded Arafat and Rabin to shake hands, which was a massive symbolic gesture resolving the problem of people without land. The agreement was that Israeli troops would be withdrawn from Gaza and Jericho on the West Bank and later from some other parts, and that elections would be held for a Palestinian authority to run West Bank and Gaza for 5 years during which a final settlement would be discussed.
In other ways, though this agreement again failed to bring about peace. This is because Jewish settlements were not removed from the West Bank and not placed under the authority of the new Palestinian administration. Arab East Jerusalem was not included in the agreement and Israeli forces still remained in Palestinian territories and Palestinians were living in refugee camps in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. Right-Wing Israelis saw the agreement as going towards a completely independent Palestinian state and violence still went on. For example, a Jewish extremist, Yigal Amir assassinated Rabin as well as Goldstein. Likud won election and were hardliners led by Netanyahu and tried to expand the amount of Jewish settlements. Therefore the Oslo Accords were quite successful in helping to resolve the conflict, however extremist groups and hardliners still prevented peace from being and more successful.
Another factor to resolve the conflict was the changing role of the Superpower, the main one being America. America and the Soviet Union were the two main influences until America started to have more of an influence. The changing role of the superpowers was successful in helping towards peace in many ways. America had influence over Israel so Israel would follow USA advice as shown in the Suez Crisis 1956 when Israel attacked Egypt without permission of the USA so they told Israel to withdraw and they did. The Soviet Union’s influence decreased with the end of The Cold War. Russia stopped supplying money and arms to Arab States. This made America the main influence and gave $3 billion every year to Israel so they would follow USA advice. The USA also aided peace with their influence when Clinton bought Arafat and Rabin together to shake hands and sign the Oslo Peace Accord. The USA played a significant part in influencing other peace negotiations being Oslo Accord I and II and the Camp David Agreement.
However it was also unsuccessful in other ways Israel did not always consult USA and follow their advice, for example when Bush requested that Israel stop expanding Jewish settlements in West Bank they refused. Netanyahu, who belonged to the hard-line Likud party, would not cooperate or compromise with Clinton. In recent events America has asked Ariel Sharon to declare a cease-fire and support the coalition against terror except Israel will not cooperate. Son the USA’s role has changed again but not for the better as their influence seems to have lessened over Israel. So this factor was in many ways successful except for a few faults where America did not have complete control over Israel only increased influence.
Changing attitudes within Israel is another factor that has helped resolve the conflict as well as hindering it. Ways in which they were successful are that in 1977 Begin, new Israeli Prime Minister, was prepared to make peace with Egypt, which was the Camp David Agreement. During and after the intifada, the USA pressured Israel to make peace and the new Israeli government elected in June, headed by Rabin, promised to work for peace. Rabin sent a letter to Arafat accepting that the PLO represented Palestinians, and then in September 1993 Rabin and Arafat signed the Oslo Accord and shook hands outside the Whitehouse.
However the changing attitude also hindered peace when after Camp David, Begin felt free to attack the PLO in Lebanon without risking war without risking war with Egypt. Extremist Jews worked against peace and assassinated Rabin in November 1995. There were angry demonstrations against Rabin’s Labour government because Right wing and religious Israelis thought the Oslo Accord was going towards a complete independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. Also Israel hindered peace as the new Likud government, led by Netanyahu, at first blocked the Oslo Accord II where Israel would withdraw from Hebron and Jewish settlements in east Jerusalem expanded with a government of hardliners like Ariel Sharon, therefore because of the lack of cooperation by Israeli government the other factors were more successful in resolving the conflict.
The changing attitudes of PLO and Arab leadership helped and hindered peace also. Arafat wanted compromise with Israel and in 1988 he publicly accepted the existence of Israel as a state and a ‘Land for Peace’ in resolution 242 is agreed to. He rejected terrorism, which also helped in recent events. Arafat was also the one who moved first to shake hands with Rabin and said he would compromise with a settlement based on just the West Bank and Gaza.
There were also many ways in which their changing attitudes hindered peace as well. The PLO was not united behind Arafat and extremist groups like the PLFP and Hamas would not compromise, as recent suicide bombings in Jerusalem and the assassination of the Israeli tourism minister has shown Syria encouraged a hard-line approach, which did not help. Such Arab states supported extremist Islamic groups like Jihad, which wanted to see Israel destroyed. Thus not all Palestinians have been behind moves to resolve the conflict.
