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| VIEW FROM THE FIELD: CHARLES KRAUSE ON THE MIDEAST PEACE PROCESS November 18, 1997 |
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Questions asked
in this forum:Is Israel on the verge of a "nervous breakdown?" If the peace process deteriorates, what will happen to U.S. interests in the Middle East? Will the Israeli government ever address the economic problems of the Palestinians? Are the leaders the barriers to peace, or is it the general will of the Israeli and Palestinian people? Did you experience distrust of the American press in the region?
NewsHour Coverage
November 7, 1997:
Charles Krause investigates the political pressure facing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
November 5, 1997:
Charles Krause explores the political pressure facing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
November 3, 1997:
Israel's Prime Minister on the latest round of Mideast peace talks.
October 7, 1997:
An assassination attempt forces the peace process to take another turn.
September 12, 1997:
Albright admits failure to mediate peace in the Middle East.
September 9, 1997:
Jim Lehrer discusses former American secretaries of state in light of Madeleine Albright's trip to the Middle East.
September 4, 1997:
Suicide bombs in West Jerusalem put the peace process in jeopardy.
April 4, 1997:
Middle East Forum: Mohammed Halaj and Amos Perlmutter answer your questions.
Browse the NewsHour's coverage of the Middle-East.
The Middle East peace process seems to have come to a grinding halt. Negotiators from both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are meeting in Washington, trying to lay the groundwork for the start of "final status" negotiations, but no progress has been reported thus far.
NewsHour correspondent Charles Krause is just back from Israel. He spent several weeks examining whether the Oslo peace process is dead, and trying to figure out why both sides seem to have given up on peace.
According to Charles's reports, there are several reasons. On the Israeli side, last year's election, which brought conservative Benjamin Netanyahu into power, reflected a growing concern on the part of the Israelis. Since 1993, when the Oslo Accords were signed, nearly 150 Israelis have been killed and more than 800 wounded by Palestinian suicide bombers. Continued terrorism has sapped the will of many Israeli residents.
On the Palestinian side, delayed promises have caused frustration and anger. Israel has not allowed the Palestinians to open a new airport that's already been built. The Israelis have also delayed implementation of a safe passage agreement, another part of the Oslo Accords that would allow Palestinians to travel freely between Gaza and the West Bank. Every time there is
a terrorist incident, border closings effect every-day life for most Palestinians. Gaza's per capita income has dropped by a third since the peace process began, according to the United Nations. Today half-completed buildings provide tangible evidence that economic development has stagnated and with it, support among Palestinians for the peace process.
Zalmon Shoval, a former Israeli ambassador to the United States and currently a foreign policy adviser to Netanyahu, puts it this way:
The moment the first bomb exploded in a Jerusalem bus, and then a second bomb and a third bomb, people I think lost faith--Israelis anyway--lost faith in Oslo. And the Palestinians, too, if I may speak for them, were frustrated because they were promised all sorts of things which didn't realize, which couldn't be realized; economic betterment, political advancement, and so on.
Questions answered in this forum:Is Israel on the verge of a "nervous breakdown?" If the peace process deteriorates, what will happen to U.S. interests in the Middle East? Will the Israeli government ever address the economic problems of the Palestinians? Are the leaders the barriers to peace, or is it the general will of the Israeli and Palestinian people? Did you experience distrust of the American press in the region?
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