The Oslo Agreements signed between Israel and the
Palestinian Authority in 1993 were made with a view to enhance “a just,
lasting and comprehensive peace”. Yet, since their coming into effect, the
Middle East has witnessed not peace, but violence of the worst kind in
recent history.
This article focuses on the rule of law
which must be observed within the legal regime of parties to peace
agreements, as a pre-condition to peaceful co-existence among them. In the
absence of the necessary legal framework, all efforts to achieve peace
will, at best, buy a temporary armistice, but be rendered futile in the
long run.
This article first analyzes the Arab-Israeli conflict
from the international law perspective. It shows that public international
law does not, and indeed cannot, offer a solution. This does not mean that
there is no peaceful solution that both Israelis and Arabs would find
desirable.
But such
a solution requires political will as well as a serious law reform, some
main aspects of which are analyzed in the article.