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The Palestinian Refusal to Negotiate Peace
(Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs) Israel's endeavors to achieve an equitable negotiated peace agreement with its Palestinian neighbors have been repeatedly rebuffed by the Palestinian leadership. Since its inauguration in April 2009, the present Israeli government has sought ways to re-engage the leadership of the PA, which unilaterally suspended peace negotiations with Israel. In a speech given at Bar-Ilan University on June 14, 2009, Prime Minister Netanyahu clearly stated his acceptance of a Palestinian nation-state, living alongside a Jewish nation-state, in peace and security. To improve the quality of life of Palestinian civilians and to promote economic development, Israel has removed checkpoints and roadblocks, and extended operating hours at crossing points between Israel and the West Bank. On Nov. 25, 2009, the Israeli government announced an unprecedented ten-month moratorium on new residential housing construction in the West Bank, which Prime Minister Netanyahu described as a step "designed to encourage the resumption of peace talks." The Palestinian rejections of these initiatives are just the latest in a string of Palestinian rejections of Israeli peace initiatives in the past two decades. The Palestinians fundamentally breached their obligations under the 1993 Oslo Accords, refused a comprehensive peace offer at Camp David in 2000, responded with rocket fire to Israel's disengagement from Gaza in 2005, and rejected Prime Minister Olmert's sweeping and unprecedented peace offer in 2008. Israel has achieved negotiated peace agreements, which have turned previous avowed enemies, such as Jordan and Egypt, into peace partners. The consistent rejection by Palestinians of Israeli peace initiatives and its current refusal to negotiate leaves Israel questioning whether its neighbors are in fact committed to peace.