On Political Settlement in the Middle East: The Palestinian Dimension

Moves towards a settlement of the Middle East conflict have clearly reached a turning point, and nothing symbolizes this situation so graphically as the fact that attention is now being devoted to the problem of the Palestinians. It is one of the curiosities of the Middle East question that so little energy has until now been dedicated to solving what any specialist would agree is the issue at the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and that so much effort on the other hand has been devoted to circumventing it. In these circumstances, it seems appropriate to analyse the current Palestinian position, as well as the present Israeli attitude. The Palestine issue will probably determine the future of the Middle East: either a political settlement resulting in permanent peace, or further crises and new wars with momentous international repercussions.

Sabri Jiryis heads the Israel section of the PLO Research Center in Beirut. A graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, he is the author of The Arabs in Israel, Democratic Freedoms in Israel and Part 1 of the Arabic work Tarikh al-Sabyuniya (A History of Zionism).