In the first installment of our Middle East peace series, we raised a question vital to the world and to markets: Is peace in the Middle East a fantasy or a ready possibility? We looked to history to guide our expectations. (See Part 1, which examines the long history of Jewish-Arab relations and the religious origins of conflict, and Part 2, which carries the discussion of history forward to 1948.)
We could start this Part 3 of the Middle East peace series with the list of all the Arab-Israeli wars that have followed since the first half of the 20th century. Britannica recounts them:
“Arab-Israeli wars” (history, conflict, causes, list, summary) | Britannica
Or we could start with the period of 1947–1948 when Britain decided to terminate its Palestine Mandate and the UN partitioned Palestine. The Partition Plan for Palestine created the state of Israel (1948). Here’s a link:
“United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine” | Wikipedia
Or we could fast forward decades to this October 24, 2025, Politico report of the private meeting in Aspen and the discussion of the Trump-Netanyahu-Hamas-Qatar 20-point peace plan and its targeted outcome. See
“Playbook: The world according to Witkoff” | Politico Playbook
We highlight two excerpts from that letter:
Excerpt 1.
Speaking two days before Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu visited the White House on Monday, and five days before Hamas would respond to Trump’s proposed plan to end the war in Gaza, Witkoff conveyed that a deal could take place this week, including releasing hostages. He credited Trump’s indomitable will.
Excerpt 2.
Witkoff’s remarks and his presence at the conference signify his extraordinary role at a perilous moment of global conflict. A peace deal in Gaza would validate Witkoff’s freewheeling approach to his singular and perhaps unprecedented portfolio. In an Oval Office video released on Truth Social, Trump acknowledged “we have to get the final word down and concrete” on such a peace agreement.
Or we could go right to today for the latest news about Israel-Lebanon-Hezbollah status or Iran-Israel-USA status. As anyone who follows the news knows, this is changing daily. As of this writing, the ceasefire has ended, but on again-off again efforts at peacemaking appear to be on again, as both sides seek to restart negotiations.
(On a related front, Vladimir Putin remains actively engaged with Iran, harbors Syria’s Assad, and is a continuous and insidious threat. I applaud the decision of President Trump to permit Patriot missile defense usage by Ukraine. Putin targets hospitals and residential buildings with ballistic missiles. Ukraine is winning the battlefield and successfully targets military infrastructure and Russia’s oil industry. Ukraine is waging a successful war against Putin’s forces. Putin is securing himself at the cost of many lives and resorts to murdering civilians. And he is exercising his influence in the Middle East regarding Iran and any peace process.)
From the very first day of its official existence, Israel has been attacked and has had to defend itself against existential threats. Established in April 1948, it was attacked by five countries the very next day. The civil war in Palestine preceded the official partition of Palestine, which Israel accepted while all others in the region rejected it and went to war instead. A ceasefire eventually set the first border lines that became known as the ’67 borders. They weren’t 1967 borders: They were 1948 war ceasefire lines.
For insight into Israel’s struggle for independence in the ’48 war, I recommend the 1965 book Six Days of Yad Mordechai. It is a history of the battle for the Jewish community of Yad Mordechai, located in what had been Mandatory Palestine. I have toured this battlefield. The book details how a few hundred defenders in a kibbutz held off the entire Egyptian army for a critical six days until reinforcements could arrive. (While the book is out of print now, used copies can still be readily found online.)
I also recommend reading the history penned by Avigdor Kahalani, who fought in the ’67 war, overcame severe wounds, returned to military service, and became a national hero in the ’73 Yom Kippur War. See The Heights of Courage: A Tank Leader’s War on the Golan, published in 1992. On one of my trips, I sat down with Kahalani for over an hour and discussed how he and his seven tanks held off the Syrian invasion and ultimately prevailed. Readers are invited to search his name and learn his story from YouTube interviews or from his books. In Israel he has been awarded the highest military medal for valor. It is the Israeli equivalent to America’s Medal of Honor.
For Part 3 of the Middle East series, let’s look at an interim period and an attempt for Middle East peace. It failed.
Here’s the story of the Oslo Accords, a pair of interim agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. They were the Oslo I Accord, signed in Washington, D.C., in 1993; and the Oslo II Accord, signed in Taba, Egypt, in 1995.
As you read the paragraphs that follow, please remember that by this time Israel had concluded a peace treaty with Egypt (in 1979). The Camp David Accords were facilitated by President Jimmy Carter in September 1978.
In 1988, Jordan officially abandoned its claim on the West Bank in favor of a peaceful resolution between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). A formal peace treaty between Israel and Jordan was signed in 1994. The negotiations of the Oslo Accords were complicated because Egyptian President Mubarak advised King Hussein of Jordan to agree, but Syrian president Assad advised Hussein only to “talk” but not to agree. President Clinton eventually prevailed, and the treaty was completed at the end of 1994.
In May 1994, following the Palestinian and Israeli agreements known as the Oslo Accords, a phased transfer of governmental authority to the Palestinians took place. Much of the Strip (Gaza) came under Palestinian control, except for the settlement blocs and military areas.
However, the establishment and expansion of the controversial settlements in the Occupied West Bank constituted a major challenge to the possibility of a two-state solution by violating Palestinian sovereignty, threatening civil peace and security, jeopardizing water resources, and blocking agricultural development.
The peace process was further strained by the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre, as well as by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) suicide bombings and attacks. Far-right Israelis also opposed the Oslo Accords; and, for signing them, Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995 by a right-wing Israeli extremist. Note that Hamas already had teamed with PIJ to deter any peace. Also note that a right-wing Israeli extremist opened fire in a mosque in Hebron. (See “Hebron Massacre, 1994” from the Institute for Palestine Studies.)
In 1998, the Wye River Memorandum, an agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, was concluded in Wye River, Maryland, following negotiations led by President Bill Clinton. It was signed by Netanyahu and Yassir Arafat. Implementation followed. On December 18, 1998, the Clinton administration and the EU declared their contentment about the implementation of the first phase of the Memorandum by both sides.
Wikipedia summarizes the situation in early 1999. By this point, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad had carried out a fatal terrorist attack in Jerusalem, and Israel had implemented only Stage 1 of the further redeployment (F.R.D.), meaning that it had withdrawn from 2% of Area C instead of the required 13%. Each party accused the other of not fulfilling its share of responsibilities under the Wye River Memorandum, and further implementation of the agreement remained unfinished. The agreement had failed, and lasting peace eluded the Middle East yet again.
We will end Part 3 here. By this time, 20 years had passed since Iran took American hostages in 1979 and since the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was firmly installed in Iran. Readers can find the rest of the history from the sources listed and fill in the many details that I left out of this narrative. An excellent historical narrative is found in President Jimmy Carter’s book, The Blood of Abraham: Insights into the Middle East, first published in 1985. My 2007 edition from the University of Arkansas Press features a historical chronology from 9000 B.C. in Jericho until 2007, when Hamas became the official ruling party in Gaza.
How realistic are hopes for forging a lasting peace? Today we have briefly mulled the second half of the 20th century in search of an answer to that question. Our historical quest continues. In Part 4 of this series, I will address the teaching of hate. Readers will learn my personal story of a visit to the Palestinian Authority Headquarters in Jericho in August 1999. Until now, I haven’t told that story.
Sources and Further Reading
“Arab-Israeli wars” | Britannica,
https://www.britannica.com/event/Arab-Israeli-wars
“Conflict in the Middle East (1947-2000)” | PBS,
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/hijacked-conflict-middle-east-1947-2000/
“Timeline: Key Events In The Israel-Arab And Israeli-Palestinian Conflict” | AJC,
https://www.ajc.org/IsraelConflictTimeline
“United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine” | Wikipedia,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Partition_Plan_for_Palestine
“Playbook: The world according to Witkoff” | Politico Playbook,
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2025/10/04/the-world-according-to-witkoff-00594259
Margaret Larkin, Six Days of Yad Mordechai, Yad Mordechai Museum, 1971
Avigdor Kahalani, The Heights of Courage: A Tank Leader’s War on the Golan, Praeger,1992
“Oslo Accords” | Wikipedia,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oslo_Accords
“Hebron Massacre, 1994” | Institute for Palestine Studies,
https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1652605
“Wye River Memorandum” | Wikipedia,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wye_River_Memorandum
Jimmy Carter, The Blood of Abraham: Insights into the Middle East, University of Arkansas Press, 2007
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