Palestinian views on the peace process

This page is subject to the extended confirmed restriction related to the Arab-Israeli conflict.Palestinians hold a diverse range of views on the peace process with Israel, though the goal that unites them is the end of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.

'New Historian' Israeli academic Ilan Pappe says the cause of the conflict from a Palestinian point of view dates back to 1948 with the creation of Israel (rather than Israel’s views of 1967 being the crucial point and the return of occupied territories being central to peace negotiations), and that the conflict has been a fight to bring home refugees to a Palestinian state.

[7] The Oslo Accords demonstrated the recognition of this acceptance by the then Palestinian leadership of the state of Israel’s right to exist in return for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

[8] However, there are recurrent themes prevalent throughout peace process negotiations including a feeling that Israel offers too little and a mistrust of its actions and motives.

The Palestinian revolution's basic concern is the uprooting of the Zionist entity from our land and liberating it.The PLO has complex, often contradictory attitudes to peace with Israel.

[14] The period saw a disconnect between what the PLO's second in command Abu Iyad referred to as "the language of peace" and support of fighting Israel.

[18] In 2000, after Yasser Arafat rejected the offer made to him by Ehud Barak based on a two-state solution and declined to negotiate for an alternative plan,[19] it became clear that Arafat would not make a deal with Israel unless it included the full Palestinian right of return, which would demographically destroy the Jewish character of the State of Israel.

[20][21] For this reason, Alan Dershowitz claimed that Arafat put his desire to destroy Israel above his dream of building a Palestinian state.

In 2010, Ismail Haniyeh announced that Hamas would accept the outcome of a Palestinian referendum on a peace treaty with Israel even if the results were not in line with their ideology.