Background
After their victory in the Six Days War of 1967, Israel wrestled control of the Golan Heights from Syria, the West Bank from Jordan, and Gaza and the Sinai from Egypt (Oakman, 2002, para. 4). The presence of Israel, a Jewish nation surrounded by Arab nations and the displacement of Palestinians threatened Syria’s interest. On the other hand, Israel wanted the persecution of the Jews by Muslims to stop and to be recognized as a sovereign state by the Arab world. It was until 1978 when the US-mediated a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
Conflict analysis
In 1948, the UN divided the British Protectorate of Palestine a Jewish and Arab states. Fighting broke out immediately, and by 1949, there was no Arab Palestinian state at all (Oakman, 2002, para. 3). Each passing year, the Israeli – Arab war escalated with each stakeholder trying to protect their interests thus they could not agree on how to solve their differences.
After the Six Day War, the UN Security Council passed a resolution which required Israel to surrender all the territories it had occupied and in return, they would be recognized as a sovereign state. These resolutions by UN Security Council were widely accepted by the Arab states. The US government opted not to facilitate the peace talks since it was concentrating on the Cold War with the Soviet Union.
As the Israel – Arab war raged on, US feared that the Soviet Union would join in and interfere with their oil supplies. The US took the opportunity to act as a mediator in order to protect its oil interest as well as stop the Soviets from joining the conflict. President Carter invited the Prime Minister of Israel, Menachem Begin and the Egyptian President; Anwar Sadat to Camp David to find a lasting solution to the conflict.
Camp David Accords shaped the Middle East for a generation… but were so different from what its American sponsors intended (McConnell, 2011. para. 3). The strengthening of ties between the US and the Israeli and Egypt was a severe blow to the Soviet Union and a victory for the Americans. In the end, the US was also able to protect its oil interests in the region.
Washington had to use “Single-Text Negotiating Strategy” which formed the backbone of Camp David Accords in order to solve the Israel – Egypt war. This strategy involves inclusion, exclusion, and refining of a single document by aggrieved stakeholders to find common ground. Single-Text Strategy, “encourage parties to talk to… focus on each other’s interest” (Smith, 2005) and concentrate on the areas of agreement, mutual recognition of responsibilities and potential solutions (Smith, 2005).
The “Single-Text Negotiation Strategy” is an effective tool when faced with heavily polarized disputants (Smith, 2005). It yields better results than shuttle diplomacy and other types of mediation. This method has been used to solve conflicts in Sudan, Sierra Leone among other countries in the world by various organizations including the Carter Center.
Conclusion
There are several lessons regarding conflict resolution that can be learned from the Egypt-Israel war. When Sadat visited Israel to speak before the Knesset shows how he analyzed the parameters of the conflict then developed a strategy to resolve the problem to his advantage. In the end, Egypt took control of Sinai and developed stronger ties with the US in exchange for its leadership role in the Arab world. On the other hand, Israel benefited by strengthening its ties with the US and being recognized as a sovereign state.
References
McConnel, Scott, (2011). The History of the Camp David Accords Reveals that even a Sympathetic President could not Stand up for the Palestinians.
Oakman, Jonathan. (2002). The Camp David Accords: A Case Study on International Negotiation.
Smith, Shane. (2005). What is Single-Text Negotiation?. Web.