THE PEACE PROCESS
There have been various efforts to resolve the conflict especially since 1991. However, these have so far failed to produce any results. What went wrong? Here is the answer given by Colin Chapman in his book Whose Promised Land?
What happened to the peace process?
The end of the Gulf War in 1991 encouraged George Bush Snr to believe that the time was ripe for a determined effort to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The Madrid Conference in 1991 led to the Oslo Accords of 1993–95, creating a process that was supposed to lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state. None of the initiatives of successive American presidents – Carter, Clinton, Bush Jnr, Obama, Trump, and Biden – have produced any solid results. What then went wrong?
Most Israelis would say that the majority of Palestinians have never been able to accept the existence of the State of Israel and that the Palestinians who have talked about peace have seen it as a means to the end of destroying Israel. When Palestinians have resorted to suicide bombings and terrorist attacks – as in the Second Intifada of 2000–05 – Israelis have felt very vulnerable and inevitably unwilling to take part in further negotiations.
Most Palestinians would argue that ever since 1967 Israel has been determined to hold on to East Jerusalem and the West Bank and has never been willing to surrender these, responding with delaying tactics to every approach from the Palestinians. Soon after the 1967 war Israel started creating facts on the ground in order to prevent the creation of any viable Palestinian state. It was Israel’s expansionist policies that provoked the violent response from the Palestinians, which was then used as a justification for refusing to negotiate. Palestinians also point to their leaders’ acceptance of the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which did accept the existence of the State of Israel within its 1967 borders.
Many observers – both within and outside Israel – have concluded that there are four main reasons why the peace process has failed:
The Oslo Accords did not attempt to deal with the most crucial issues – refugees, borders, and Jerusalem – but postponed discussion of them until a future date. Ian Black describes this as ‘a fatal flaw that would be endlessly debated in the years to come.’1
The Accords failed to create a mechanism for ensuring that both parties kept their side of the agreement. In particular, Israel has effectively undermined the Accords by creating facts on the ground, in particular by building more settlements on occupied territory.
The one superpower in the world, the USA, which should have been an honest broker in ensuring the completion of the process, has been too closely identified with one side in the conflict and has therefore been unable or unwilling to put sufficient pressure on Israel to honour its commitments.
There was strong opposition to the agreement both among Jews and Palestinians. After the murder of Rabin by an Israeli extremist, Ian Black writes that ‘A rickety, provisional structure that was already under heavy fire from determined enemies on both sides had just lost one of the two leaders who had the courage to implement it. When Nabil Shaath broke the news of Rabin’s murder, Arafat responded: 'Today the peace process has died.''1
Ehud Olmert, in a speech addressing Abbas and the Palestinian delegation at the Annapolis peace conference in 2007, clearly seemed to have understood the situation of the Palestinians under occupation:
'I know that this pain and this humiliation are the deepest foundations which fomented the ethos of hatred towards us. We are not indifferent to this suffering. We are not oblivious to the tragedies that you have experienced... If we don’t do something, we will lose the possibility of the existence of two states... We will be an apartheid state.'2
DONALD TRUMP'S PEACE PLAN
In October 2025, Donald Trump's so-called 'Peace Plan' for Gaza was announced and a ceasefire was agreed between Israel and Hamas. A few days later, Sabeel-Kairos UK, a Christian charity that works for human rights, justice and equality for Palestinians in partnership with the Christian community in the Holy Land, issued the following response:
Sometime later, Rev Munther Isaac wrote this article3 for Sojourners magazine:
As a Palestinian Pastor, I Can’t Call This ‘Peace’ Plan Justice
In Palestine, we welcomed the news of a ceasefire with hope - a fragile, trembling hope. After months of unbearable horror, we allowed ourselves to exhale. For the people of Gaza, it meant a pause in the killing, a night of uneasy quiet and the possibility of sleep without bombs. For the first time in months, aid convoys could move, families could begin to search for loved ones beneath the rubble and the living could start to count the dead.
But almost immediately, our reality of living under occupation intruded again. The arrest of Layan Nasser, a young Palestinian Christian activist who was detained by Israeli security forces for the third time, reminded us that fundamentally nothing has changed. Even as hostages are released, Israel continues to place more Palestinians under detention. Even as politicians congratulate themselves on achieving 'peace', the machinery of occupation continues its cruel rhythm.
As a Palestinian pastor living in the West Bank, I write with gratitude and grief. I am grateful that, for a moment, the people of Gaza can breathe. I am grateful for every life spared, for every child who can wake up to silence rather than explosions. I rejoice for those released from captivity - Palestinian and Israeli - and I mourn for those who did not return. I grieve deeply for the thousands who remain imprisoned, displaced, and exiled, denied even the dignity of mourning.
But I cannot pretend that this ceasefire or the so-called 'peace' plan that follows it, represents anything close to justice. Last weekend, Israel launched airstrikes in Gaza, which killed close to 100 Palestinians and wounded over 200 more. Israel claimed that this breach of the ceasefire was a retaliation for Hamas attacking and killing Israel Defense Force troops in Rafah. But reports indicate that the two IDF casualties were not a result of a Hamas attack but due to a bulldozer running over an unexploded ordnance. As reported by Al Jazeera, Gaza’s media office alleges that Israel has broken the ceasefire agreement 80 times since it took effect on October 10. Still, despite violent rhetoric from both US and Israeli officials, Hamas told BBC that it remains committed to the ceasefire agreement. The killing of Palestinians continues in large numbers.
These are dark and troubling times. We live in an age where war criminals are celebrated as peacemakers; those who starve children, flatten buildings and bomb refugee camps are praised for their 'restraint.' It is a tragic irony that those who commit atrocities can be hailed as heroes the moment they pause the killing.
To make matters worse, the architects of past catastrophes - people like Tony Blair, the former British Prime Minister who supported the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, which resulted in nearly one million people being killed - are being invited once again to oversee 'reconstruction' and 'stabilisation.' The same logic that destroyed other nations is now being applied to rebuild Gaza.
What politicians are selling to us is not peace; it is submission. It is the illusion of peace; it is a coercive peace where the powerful impose their will, dictate terms and call it 'stability'. There is no mention of justice, no acknowledgment of war crimes and no talk of reparations or accountability. The message is clear: Might makes right. The powerful rule and the rest of us must accept.
Gaza is now being transformed into an investment opportunity. President Trump’s 20-point plan promises to make Gaza one of the 'thriving modern miracle cities in the Middle East.' The same nations that armed Israel during its campaign are now preparing to profit from rebuilding what their weapons destroyed. Companies and investors are being invited to line up to benefit from the ashes of Palestinian homes, to turn genocide into a business venture. The rich will grow richer, while the poor will rebuild their lives under the same occupation that tried to destroy them.
Meanwhile, Palestinians in the West Bank remain under siege - subjected to daily raids, expanding settlements and settler terrorism. Yet in the political discourse, Palestinians are told that we must be the ones to 'reform.' As if our oppression were our own fault. As if the colonised must prove their worthiness for freedom.
Our humanity seems negotiable. When it comes to genocide, the world says 'never again' but it seems this applies only to some. Global leaders rush to ensure that Israeli suffering is never repeated, yet remain silent as Palestinians are bombed, starved and erased. The interests of the empire outweigh the cries of the oppressed. Again, Palestinians are asked to die quietly for someone else’s peace.
I am not trying to be cynical or pessimistic. But truth must be spoken plainly. A ceasefire is not peace. A pause in the killing, while apartheid continues, is not peace. A plan that ignores justice and accountability is not peace.
Real peace begins with the recognition of historic injustice - with naming what has been done to the Palestinian people for more than 75 years: ethnic cleansing, dispossession and apartheid. Without truth, there can be no reconciliation. Without justice, peace will always be an illusion.
And yet, amid the ruins and a fragile ceasefire agreement, I hold on to hope. Not a naïve hope but the stubborn, biblical hope that insists light can rise from darkness. We must honor the pain and loss of this war. We must tell the truth about the genocide that unfolded before our eyes. We must work for healing, not through denial, but through accountability and repentance.
Peace cannot be imposed. Rather, it must be built on justice, equality, and recognition of every human life as sacred. The people of Gaza, and all Palestinians, deserve not charity but dignity; not reconstruction under occupation but liberation from it. The ceasefire has given us a moment to breathe. May it also be the moment we awaken to the truth that peace without justice is merely the continuation of war by quieter means.
In a podcast produced by Foundation For Middle East Peace shortly after the 20-point plan was announced, Hilary Rantisi interviewed Dr Mouin Rabbani about the plan and asks whether or not this and other recent developments such as recognition of Palestinian statehood and popular pressure to end the genocide, might lead to a permanent peace. This is well worth a watch.
Notes
Enemies And Neighbours by Ian Black
Quoted by Ian Black in Enemies And Neighbours
https://sojo.net/articles/opinion/palestinian-pastor-i-cant-call-peace-plan-justice