But settlements are not the core issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict . The core issue remains the rejection of the Jewish people ’ s right to a homeland . President Bill Clinton made the point in describing the Camp David Summit : “ I regret that in 2000 [ former Palestinian Authority President Yasser ] Arafat missed the opportunity to bring that nation into being and pray for the day when the dreams of the Palestinian people for a state and a better life will be realized in a just and lasting peace .” Arafat walked away from the negotiating table without proposing a counter-offer because he knew that quibbling over borders was pointless . Though the two sides were near a compromise on the issue of borders , they remained irreconcilably far apart on the intractable issues of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees .
This underlying rejection of the Jewish right to self-determination has typified the Palestinian position since the outset of the peace process . Israeli settlement construction does nothing to hasten peace , but Palestinian rejectionism does a great deal to prevent peace , to the ongoing detriment of the Israeli and Palestinian peoples .
Map Sources
1 . JewishVirtuallibrary . org , “ Background and Overview Six Day War ”& ProCon . org , “ Why Did Israel Take the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt in 1967 ?” 2 . Wikimedia . org , “ Golan Heights Map ” 3 . Wikimedia . org , “ Gaza Strip 2011-01-20 . gif ” 4 . Wikiemedia . org , “ West Bank ” 5 . JewishVirtualLibrary . org , “ Myths and Facts : A Guide to the Arab-
Israeli Conflict ”