Why is the future of the peace process in Israel uncertain Please provide 3 reasons of this uncertainty?

Answer 1

The future of the peace process is uncertain because of:

1. The intransigence of both sides;
2. The uneven balance of military and economic power between the Israelis and Palestinians;
3. Incursion of Jewish settlements into the West Bank;
4. Division of Power in the Palestinian terriories

One of the reasons for the intransigence is that the politicians on both sides are not free agents. They can not make important concessions because these would be opposed by their own electorates. Also, the Israeli side knows that time is on their side: the longer a settlement can be delayed, the more Jewish settlements can be built on Palestinian land.

The uneven balance of military and economic power means that one side can act in a way that some would see as arrogant, and at the very least demand concessions that would otherwise be seen as inappropriate. It also means that the Israelis can dictate to a large extent whom within Palestine they are willing to negotiate with. The use of military and economic power to lower the quality of life in the Palestinian territories may have once been intended to encourage as many as possible to depart, or to make the Palestinian Authority more amenable to an uneven agreement, but the outcome has been to increase the hostility of Palestians towards Jews.

Unless the Jews building settlements in the Palestinian territories see themselves as future citizens of a Palestian state, each settlement is really the theft of sovereignty, as well as the appropriation of a productive resource. The incursion of Jewish settlements into the West Bank not only creates resentment, but steadily makes Palestine less and less viable as a separate state. Unless Palestinians can see a future for themselves in a viable state, their hopes for a successful resolution are reduced. Sooner or later, it must be accepted that a two-state solution means the return of the settlements to the Palestinians.

Government of the Palestinian territories is split between Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Fatah in the West Bank. This makes it even more difficult for the President to negotiate on behalf of all Palestinians. This was not always so - in a relatively free and fair election, Hamas gained the majority of seats in the Parliament, but Israel and the West refused to accept the Hamas victory, with Israel making it clear that they would never negotiate with Hamas. Whatever the past, this is an abnegation of democracy on the part of the very countries that deride Arab nations for supposedly being unable to build democracies. Hamas was denied its role on the West Bank, but was able, in response, to create an autonomous Dictatorship in the Gaza Strip.