In 1972 the PLO took Israeli athletes hostage and eventually killed them at the Munich Olympic Games. In response to this Israel launched an air attack on Syria and Jordan, killing 500 people. In 1978 the PLO again demonstrated an act of terrorism by hi-jacking an Israeli bus and killing 39 civilians. In response to this Israel invaded Lebanon and killed 2,500 Palestinians and displaced 250,000. Both of these are significant turning points, because if we look at the damage caused to both sides, we can see that the Israelis dealt out far more casualties to the PLO and Palestine, when they retaliated. This would obviously demoralize the PLO and the ordinary Palestinians. Also because the PLO is using terrorism as a means to bring attention to the plight of the Palestinians, they are bringing a bad name to the PLO and the ordinary Palestinians. This means that the rest of the world is less likely to help them because terrorism is condoned. It also means that the Israelis are less likely to want to negotiate a peace deal because of all of the innocent civilians killed by terrorist attacks.
In 1974, just after the fourth Arab-Israeli war, Yasser Arafat was invited to speak to the UN and he said that he was holding a gun (symbol of war) and an olive branch (symbol of peace). Then, surprisingly, in 1988 Yasser Arafat said that he recognised Israel’s right to exist and insisted that the two sides must negotiate for peace, but Israel refused. These are significant turning points because these actions were a dramatic turn around from Arafat’s original idea that the PLO should use terrorism to destroy Israel. Then in 1989 Arafat told the UN that he rejected terrorism.
In 1987 the Intifada took place. This was when the ordinary Palestinians living in Israel rebelled against the Israeli rule and took to fight Israeli soldiers in the streets. There was over 1000 people killed and 120,000 injured and the Israeli army were ordered to shoot to kill if anyone broke the curfew. This is a turning point because the Israelis and the Palestinians got the whole worlds attention and probably brought the 1993 peace talks closer.
In 1993 the Israelis new PM, Rabin, agreed to negotiate a peace deal with the PLO. This peace deal consisted of:
- The recognition of each other
- Israel will hand over some limited self rule to Palestine
- Talks would begin to discuss the removal of Israeli troops
- Palestinian elections
But on 13th December Israeli troops failed to withdraw from the Gaza strip as previously agreed.
If we look at the way that Israel retaliated to the acts of terrorism by the PLO we can see that the casualties that the Palestinians suffered as a result of Israeli reprisals are far worse than the Israeli casualties at the hands of the PLO. This almost certainly changed Yasser Arafat’s mind about how to get Palestine back. Also Israel’s new Prime minister helped towards Yasser Arafat changing his mind as he promised that he would try and negotiate a peace deal between Palestine and Israel. Also the fact that terrorism is condoned probably changed Yasser Arafat’s mind about the way he tries to help his people. This is because he probably realized that while he was conducting terrorist attacks, the rest of the world would be less likely to help the Palestinians in their plight.
In 1968 Israel’s stance on the PLO was very negative. For example they refused to recognise the PLO’s existence; they refused to negotiate with the PLO over any peace deals and there was to be no compromise over land. But in 1993 under PM Rabin they were negotiating a peace deal with the PLO and Rabin shook hands with Yasser Arafat, something which the rest of the world did not expect to see.
There are a number of reasons for this change of heart from Israel. One of these is to do with the 1973 Yom Kippur war. This war, like all the others, Israel won but this was the war that changed the USA’s stance on the PLO because of the oil embargo. This meant that Israel didn’t have the 100% support from the USA like they once had, meaning they weren’t as well protected as they once were.
Another reason is because of the Camp David agreement. This deal gave more power to Palestinian people living in the West Bank and Gaza, amongst other things. This meant that the Israelis had lost some power over the Palestinians, meaning that more deals could happen in the future, lessening Israel’s power over Palestinian people.
The last reason is because of the PM, Rabin. He was different to past Prime Ministers and the current PM, because he was Labour, whereas the others were and are Likud. The Labour party in Israel are far more dedicated to making peace with Palestine and are far more tolerant than the Likud.
All of these factors meant that a peace deal could be made between the two sides.
Throughout all of this America was trying to negotiate a peace siding with either Israel or no one at all. For example in 1968 America was giving money, arms and technology to help Israel, but in 1993 their stance had changed and they were more interested in helping both sides.
The first hint of America’s involvement was in 1973 during the time of the fourth Arab Israeli war, when America ordered a military alert to reduce the danger of the conflict spreading to the superpowers of the world. They also tried to intervene in the war, along with the USSR, to avoid being involved in the conflict. After the war the Arab countries involved raised the price of oil by 70% causing an economic crisis in the West. Although the Israelis won the war the Arabs were successful in changing the way the opinions of many countries, including America. This is a turning point because this is when the USA tried to be more pro-active in bringing about peace between the two sides.
Soon after this in 1974 Henry Kissinger, an American diplomat, started to try and negotiate a peace deal between the two sides. This is when Yasser Arafat was invited to speak to the UN.
In 1978 The Camp David Agreement was enforced and this was where Prseident Carter helped enforce a peace treaty between any Arab country, Egypt and Israel. This would provide the foundations for any other peace agreement as if it broke down for some reason, then America knew that they could push for another one. It could also lead to future peace deals. The deal also meant that Palestinians living in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip could run some of their affairs but it also meant that Yasser Arafat could see that Israel were willing to compromise.
In 1991, the Madrid Peace talks were arranged and sponsored by the USA and Russia and these peace talks consisted of direct talks between Israel, Palestinians, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. These peace talks would probably help the final peace agreement in 1993 and again the USA was directly involved.
I think that there were a lot of reasons why the PLO moved towards making peace with Israel and some of these are:
- The expulsion of the PLO by many countries such as Jordan and Syria.
- The number of casualties the PLO suffered as a result of Israeli reprisals.
- The direct involvement of USA when trying to negotiate a peace deal.
But I think that the most important one was that Yasser Arafat realised that his terrorist attacks were not really doing any damage to Israel and that Israel’s attacks were doing an enormous amount of damage to Palestinian morale and the nation as a whole. But, the fact that the PLO were being expelled or driven out by the Israelis, from any country that they tried to establish a base in, also contributed to Arafat’s change of heart. For example the PLO were getting weaker and weaker as they were spread out across the Middle East and North Africa because they were getting further away from Palestine and therefore couldn’t launch effective attacks on Israel. So I think that when Arafat made a peace deal, it was only because he felt that if he didn’t, then the Palestinians would never be able to get their homes back.