Defining Success In Peace Negotiations: An Analysis of Israeli-Palestinian Peace Proposals and the Requirements for Success

Abstract

Although the conflict in the Holy Land dates back to ancient times, and in particular the Israeli-Palestinian conflict dates back to the early 1900s, no attempt to deal with it has ended in peaceful resolution. The success of peace attempts in the region has long been in question. Yet, how can we define the success of an agreement or proposal without an idea of what success looks like to compare it to. In defining success in terms of a peace attempt’s relation to all of its counterparts this paper is able to draw conclusions about what makes a peace plan more or less likely to succeed. I analyze a large plethora of past peace attempts in order to inform my conclusions regarding a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.