showed they could not expect easy victories in the future. The cease-fire was
followed by extensive peace negotiations, led by the USA, and finally a formal
peace treaty between Israel and Egypt in 1979; this, however, led to Egypt
being shunned elsewhere in the Arab world.
The wars were essentially caused by the unwillingness of Israel’s neighbours
to accept its legitimacy as a state at all, and were only made possible by massive
military aid to Israel from the USA and to the Arab states from the Soviet
Union. The basic principle of Israel’s right to existence and within which
borders, together with its treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank and
elsewhere, remain the main areas of conflict. It is improbable, however, that
any further major wars will be fought between Arabs and Israelis, particularly as
the end of thecold warand the collapse of the Soviet Union has left US
influence in theMiddle Eastessentially unchallenged. This was demonstrated
when Iraq tried, by attacking Israel with missiles during theGulf War, to raise
the anti-Israel standard again, and the Arab members of the US-led United
Nations action stayed loyal to the alliance. However, continual conflict with
Palestinian movements (seePLO), will continue until a lasting settlement of
these areas of dispute is achieved. Even the creation of a Palestinian National
Authority in 1994, and the restricted independence given to parts of historic
Palestine thereafter, has not brought peace. Continuing violence from militant
Palestinian Islamist movements, and conflict over the expansion of Jewish
settlements in the West Bank, have ensured that a state of tension amounting to
near war continues in the area.
Arbitration
Arbitration is a method of conflict resolution which, with more or less
formalized mechanisms, occurs in many political and legal spheres. There
are two main characteristics to arbitration. The first is that it is a voluntary
process under which two parties in conflict agree between themselves to be
bound by the judgment of a third party which has no other authority over
them; the judgment, however, is not legally binding. The second is that there is
usually no clear body of law or set of rules that must apply; the arbitrator is free,
subject to any prior agreement with the conflicting parties, to decide on
whatever basis of justice is deemed suitable. Arbitration has been used
successfully, for example, to decide on disputed borders between Israel and
Egypt, where local history was a major part of the arbitrator’s decision.
Although lacking a precise legal position, arbitration will often have a
recognized place as a pre-legal procedure. For example labour relations laws
in several countries make it compulsory fortrade unionsand employers to go
to arbitration before astrikecan be legal, and commercial contracts often
Arbitration