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The Mythical Middle East Peace Process
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# : |
14618 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
Date : |
5 / 1988 |
3,037 Words |
| Author
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Evans Johnson
Evans Johnson was a foreign correspondent based in several
Middle Eastern countries from 1975 to 1982, and is now an
associate editor with the New York City Tribune. |
On the heavily symbolic Ides of March this year, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir met with the leaders of the United States in Washington.
At issue was the most recent U.S. proposal to end the 40-year-long Israel-Arab stalemate, a relationship known as the "Middle East Problem" in the American media, and subtitled: the "Palestinian Problem."
Secretary of State George Shultz only a week earlier returned from the most energetic spurt of American shuttle diplomacy since the days of Camp David in the late 1970s. In little more than a week, he flew from Washington to Tel Aviv-Jerusalem, Cairo, Amman, Damascus, London, Brussels, and back to the Middle East again, before heading for home on March 5.
In his wake, Shultz had left a proposal that could lead to self-rule for the Palestinians now living in territories administered by Israel. However, no leader except Israel's Foreign Minister Shimon Peres was particularly optimistic. Shamir, Peres' political rival, was staunchly opposed to trading territory for peace. A chorus of mourners--including Arab officials who were linked to the peace effort--lamented Shultz's apparent effort to breathe renewed life into the Camp David peace process, an idea that even Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak roundly debunked. Shultz deposited copies of the U.S. proposals in the laps of the four national leaders directly perched on the twin horns of the Middle East dilemma.
The United States proposed that sometime in early or mid-April an international conference be convened. It would serve as an umbrella arrangement
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