The Process of Reaching Peaceful Territorial Change: The Arab-Israeli Conflict in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

The Process of Reaching Peaceful Territorial Change: The Arab-Israeli Conflict in Comparative Perspective To understand the Arab-Israeli conflict and the prospects for its current peace process, we have to combine an analytical framework from political science with the insights of a more detailed historical analysis. This article examines the realities and possibilities of promoting peaceful territorial change in the Arab-Israeli conflict by drawing on both disciplines. The political science analysis emphasizes the search for patterns and models; conversely, the historical inquiry highlights the uniqueness of each case study. The collaboration between history and political science permits examination of the process of peaceful territorial change in the Arab-Israeli conflict both as a unique case and as a recurrent pattern. Israel's territorial concessions to Egypt in the past and its readiness to embark upon additional territorial adjustments and cessions vis-a-vis Syria and the Palestinians have been depicted as a unique case of peaceful territorial change in the history of international relations. A comparison of the Arab-Israeli peace process with four other cases helps to determine what, if anything, we can learn from other historical cases about the intricacies of the Arab-Israeli embroglio. Although territorial disputes are usually considered a zerosum phenomenon (only one of the parties can effectively control a given piece of land), the number of peaceful territorial changes achieved through voluntary negotiations throughout history has been remarkably high. Nonetheless, even successful bargaining