Land for peace

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Land for peace is a general principle proposed for resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict by which the State of Israel would relinquish control of all or part of the territories it conquered in 1967 in return for peace with and recognition by the Arab world.

1 Background
2 Criticism
3 Arab-Israeli peace diplomacy and treaties
4 External links
5 References

[edit] Background

The formula appeared for the first time in UN Security Council Resolution 242; it has since then become the main guideline of American and international policy regarding the conflict.

Land for Peace was first used as the basis for Israel's peace treaty with Egypt in 1979, which included an Israeli retreat from the Sinai in exchange for economic assistance to both sides from the United States and a peace treaty with Egypt. The international community supports the same principle for the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. In the Camp David Accords of 1978, the establishment of a Palestinian self-governing authority is envisioned; at this time however, Jordan was regarded as a representative of the Palestinians. Numerous statements by Israeli officials indicated that much of the Israeli establishment wanted to follow a similar course with Jordan and the West Bank. However, Jordan withdrew its claims to the West Bank and subsequently signed a peace treaty with Israel that included only minor border adjustments. The principle reappeared in the Oslo accords with the PLO. The hand-over of land in return for peaceful co-existence is a feature of most Proposals for a Palestinian state.

[edit] Criticism

The forced eviction by Israel of its settlers and military forces in entirety from the ground territory of the Gaza strip has been put forth as a 'test case' of "Land for Peace" with the Palestinians.

This 'test case' is argued by some to show the failure of the "Land for Peace" strategy with the Palestinians:
- Desecration of Jewish religious places immediately took place following this withdrawal.^{[citation needed]}
- Rockets launched against Israeli targets continued almost immediately after the Israeli withdrawal and have increased in the time since.^{[citation needed]}
- The attacks from the Gaza Strip are continuing today^[1]
- The area is now being used to smuggle weapons into Israel^[2]
- Tunnels are being built under the border for use in the smuggling of weapons and fighters^[3]
- Is presumed that Hamas is the main organization behind the smuggling and tunnels, though other groups are likely involved as well^[4]

However, it is countered that the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip is not a valid test case because Israel is continuing its "occupation" and despite having withdrawn its settlers, there are still ground forces (i.e., Israel has not relinquished enough).:
- As not all of "Palestine" (variably defined)^{[citation needed]} is free from occupation, "resistance" to occupation from the Gaza Strip is still justified^{[citation needed]}
- Israel still controls the airspace and seaspace of the Gaza strip, so the occupation of that territory alone still continues^{[citation needed]}
- Israel's limiting of trade relations with the Gaza Strip and the International Community's suspension of aid following the election of a Hamas-led government constitutes a "siege" which justifies continued "resistance"^{[citation needed]}