Reasons for the Failure of Camp David of 2000 Essay

Reasons for the Failure of Camp David of 2000 - Essay Example It was aimed to eradicate the conflict involving Israel and Palestine. These two countries have been in conflict for an incredibly long time. Israel is composed of both Muslims and Christians while Palestine is an Arab only state. The summit was a continuation of the peace development that had been started by former United States president Carter. This paper will expand on the issues that led to the failure of Camp David in 2000 and what had caused the conflicts. Nature of the Failure of Camp David The summit meant to discuss many issues that hindered the development of the peace procedure and included territory, Jerusalem, refugees and security worries by Israel. In relation to territory, the Palestinian authorities demanded that they should be awarded with full power over some areas such as the Gaza strip, which was being controlled by Israel1. Israel disputed that the area belonged to them, and rejected their proposals. The prime minister of Israel instead offered them the access to the areas under conflict but insisted that they were still under the government of Israel. He additionally explained that the roads to be used were still under Israel and the Palestinians would be deprived of their use in case there was an emergency. The Palestinian leader rejected Israel’s whole idea since they had wanted complete ownership of the land2. This is one issue why they never solved their conflict on territorial borders. They further discussed on the territorial conflict that concerned Jerusalem. Palestinians claimed complete ownership of the east of Jerusalem and the holy cities that were nearby including Temple Mount. Amusingly, both Israel and Palestine referred to temple mount as holy grounds, considering that Judaism and Islam are involved. Palestine claimed that the land on the east of Jerusalem was ‘stolen’ by Israel and that they should return it to the rightful owner. The Israeli leader argued that if the land belonged to Palestine, they w ould still be having it since countries should always protect their possessions. In an attempt to solve this problem, Israel suggested that Palestine be granted with custodianship and not complete ownership of the area in conflict (Temple Mount)3. Israel however claimed that the ancient wall on the temple mount would belong to them since it was very an important icon in Judaism. Israel also suggested that some Muslim environs in the east of Jerusalem would be part of Palestine while others would still be under the control of Israel. It happens that Palestinians had wanted full control of all the Muslim neighborhoods and sought for an explanation why Israel would no grant them full sovereignty. They did not desire Israel to have power over the holy Arab cities in any manner and therefore could not come into a viable conclusion. Another reason for the summit was the issue of refugees. These refugees came to being because of war that made some Palestinians to escape from Israel into th e neighboring Palestine. Palestine wanted the refugees to go back to their original homes in Israel without being asked and that they should be granted with land. Israel rejected because they were millions of them and they would make the country be overpopulated and limit the resources. Large populations have high demand for resources and lead to their degradation since they can never be enough. Israel stated that they would only permit the immigrants who had families left in Israel after the war period was over. This amounted to about 100,000 refugees4. This did not favor the Palestinians, as they wanted the refugees to decide where they wanted to be, Israel or Palestine. It was evident that a large number would prefer to relocate to Israel. It was also decided that