Peacekeeping in the Middle East

Abstract

Peacekeeping remains a vital, perhaps the most essential immediate objective of the United Nations. It is thus not surprising that the ebb and flow of the organization's prestige is often influenced by its capacity to launch an effective peacekeeping operation in an area of conflict. The technique of peacekeeping, in the form either of unarmed military observers or of emergency forces (in national contingents), represents a vigorous effort by the organization to cope with the challenges of a changed international environment. The revolutionary development of weapons systems, the awesome explosive power of nuclear weapons, and the ever-present danger of escalation of local or regional disputes into global confrontations make peacekeeping a significant tool in the hands of all those preoccupied with the difficult task of containing warfare and providing a sound basis for the pursuit of peaceful settlements or peacemaking. The Middle East problem, as it has evolved and developed since the first Arab-Israeli war in 1948, presents a great challenge to the imaginations of practitioners of peacekeeping. This problem, seemingly intractable because of the deep emotions it can easily generate, the profound human tragedy it has produced, and the conflicting national and strategic interests of the major powers