State-Society Relations And The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

• Author: Lucian Balanuta
• Pages: 242-249

European Integration - Realities and Perspectives. Proceedings 2018

242

State-society Relations and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Lucian Balanuta1

Abstract: It has been argued that president Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the ethernal

capital of Israel lead to a complete freezing of an Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Judging by the internal

dynamics of both actors, the prospects of an agreement, established on mutual agreed land swaps, have long

been diminished. The theory of neoclassical realism, based on the frame structure by Norrin Ripsman,

Jeffrey Taliaferro and Steven Lobell, provides the mechanism for conceptualizing the factors influencing

decisions on this subject. In such a complex regional envinroment, the external stimuli, translated through

an intervening variable, has a causal effect on the dinamics of reconciliation. Thus, the range of domestic-

level arrangements can interweave responses to systemic and sub-systemic pressure and have a significant

impact on the strategic behavior of a decision factor. This study analyses the determinants of state-society

relations, both in Israel and t he Palestinian Territories, underlining the way they ha d conditioned domestic

leaders’ foreign policy options before and after Trump’s decision. The paper aims to indicate which of these

interactions have causal potential in order to include them inside an explanatory scheme that highlights the

current freezing status of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Keywords: Middle East; Israeli-Palestinian conflict; internal dynamics

1. Theoretical Frame Setup

Since the conclusion of the Oslo Accords (1993) and so far, the talks between Israel and t he

Palestinian Authority have gradually evolved into a deadlock in the matter of conciliation. Often

overshadowed by the current wars in the Middle East, the Israeli-Palestinian case falls into a status of

division that finds increasingly difficult the political perspectives of compromise and peace

The decision of US president, Donald Trump, to recognise Jerusalem as the ehternal capital of Israel,

though it was not considered “takТng a position on any final status Тssues” (The White House, Office

of the Press Secretary, 2017), underlined, at most, the current status-quo where both sides have already

given up the diplomatic opening for a gradual evolution in territorial concessions. The geographical

area delimited by the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River is still disputed in order to satisfy

national aspirations. The lack of dialogue between the two actors amplifies the divisions as time

passes, “dТrect talks have not been organized since t he failure of John Kerry's efforts in April 2014”.

(Black, 2016, p. 459)

Territorial control is seen as a connection with the aspirations of the two actors for stability. Hence the

appreciation of the land, that theoreticians like Joshua S. Goldstein and Jon C. Pevehouse (2008) assert

that “due to their association with the integrity of states, territories are cited much more than the

economic or strategic value they Сave.” (p. 240)

1 PСD Student, “Al.I.Cuгa” UnТversТtв of IasТ, RomanТa, Address: 11 Carol I Blvd. Ia si 700506, Romania, E-mail:

lucian.balanuta@yahoo.com