THE UNITED STATES AND THE ROAD TO PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Abstract

This paper was designed to explain why the Middle East conflict has remained resolution resistant, despite the determined efforts of the United States to end the crisis. Our major aim was to use a new theory to explain an old conflict. We anchored the study on the theory of intractable conflict which revealed that certain conflicts such as the Middle East conflict are endless, hopeless, deep rooted, enduring and therefore impossible to resolve. The study further revealed that apart from bilateral and multilateral efforts, the United States was behind some of the best strategies to end the conflict such as the Rogers plan of 1969, the Jarring Mission of 10970, Camp David Accords of 1978, the Madrid Conference of 1991 and the Oslo Conference of 1993 among others. The paper argues that since the conflict can never be resolved, the only road to peace in the Middle East is for United States to pursue the policy of power parity between the Arabs and the State of Israel. Our argument is that even after the creation of the Palestinian state, if the Arab States have the upper hand in the military equation, their collective attack on the state of Israel will become inevitable.