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The Myth of the Missed Opportunity in Israeli-Arab Peace
(Al-Monitor) Akiva Eldar - Prof. Elie Podeh of the Department of Islam and Middle Eastern Studies at the Hebrew University contends that historians tend to use the term "missed opportunity" in the context of diplomatic contacts between Israel, the Arab states and the Palestinians, despite the fact that to begin with there was no real chance of their success. In a research study soon to be published, Podeh examined 30 diplomatic initiatives from 1919 to 2008 in relation to four parameters: the leaders' legitimization from their public; their determination to pursue peace; the extent of confidence that exists between the sides; and the involvement of a third party. Podeh says that 20 of the cases did not have the requisite conditions which allow for their failure to be considered a "missed opportunity." One of them is the London Agreement (reached in 1987 in secret negotiations between then-foreign minister Shimon Peres and King Hussein). He notes that Peres did not have any legitimization to reach agreement over the territories, Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir had no motivation to sign it and the Americans were unwilling to become seriously involved. In other words, three of the four conditions that define an opportunity were missing. "Not every failure to reach agreement is a missed opportunity," Podeh explains. "In order to point at a missed opportunity, one must make sure that the sides were truly interested."