As the Palestinians bid for statehood again, it becomes clear why the peace process has failed: Only one side wants true peace. Even with a Palestinian state, Palestinan presidential candidate Mahmoud Abbas said he would refuse to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, a statement that flies in the face of Israel’s historic pursuit of peace.
Israel’s third victory over surrounding Arab nations in 1967 ended with major land and resource acquisitions for Israel. The Israelis could have advanced to Cairo and Damascus, but chose not to.
In 1973 Egypt and Syria attacked Israel again. As the war started and victory was in sight, mercy was the last thing on their mind. If the Egyptians and Syrians could have marched to Jerusalem they would have. Once the Israelis took control of the war, however, they spared their enemies’ homelands.
In another gesture proving their desire for peace, just years after this vicious attack, Israel agreed to negotiate peace with Egypt at the 1979 Camp David Accords. Israel agreed to return most of what it won in 1967 – including valuable oil fields – to Egypt for normalized diplomatic relations. Israel also recognized “legitimate rights of the Palestinian people,” an effort unmet with Palestinian reciprocity.
In 1994 Israel made even more concessions for peace, this time with Jordan. The Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace even created a committee where Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Palestine would find ways to help Palestinian refugees.
At the 2000 Camp David Accords, Israel offered the Palestinians most of the West Bank, the whole Gaza Strip, custodial authority over the sacred Temple Mount and administration over the Arab and Christian quarters of the Old City in Jerusalem, along with other concessions.
The Palestinians disagreed. President Bill Clinton reflected in his memoir, “My Life,” stating, “It was historic: an Israeli government had said that to get peace, there would be a Palestinian state in roughly 97 percent of the West Bank, counting the swap, and all of Gaza where Israel also had settlements.”
On June 6, 2004 Prime Minister Ariel Sharon unilaterally declared Israel would be removing all its settlements from the Gaza Strip and four settlements from the north of the West Bank. By Sept. 12, 2005 all Israelis were uprooted out of their homes, the settlements were dismantled and sovereignty was handed over to the Palestinian authority.
In return for this unilateral gesture towards peace, the terrorist organization Hamas gained control over Gaza and fired thousands of rockets into nearby cities, killing thousands of Israeli civilians.
A few months ago, President Barack Obama tried to restart negotiations between the two groups. The guidelines he described included harsh concessions for the Israelis. Despite this, the Israelis still agreed to be at the table.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clearly stated reality as he noted that, “The truth is that so far the Palestinians have refused to negotiate. The truth is that Israel wants peace with a Palestinian state, but the Palestinians want a state without peace. And the truth is you shouldn’t let that happen.”
While many continue to blame Israel for this conflict, it is clear Israel wants peace. The Palestinians have demonstrated with their actions they don’t want peace; they much prefer the complete eradication of Israel, as stated in the Hamas constitution. Each time Israel has compromised for peace, more chaos has erupted – a policy mistake that has cost six million Israeli lives, along with millions of others to date.
The world should stop condemning Israel for its attempts at peace and instead target the real problem in this conflict: Palestine. Peace will only come when the Palestinians want it.