Conclusion

Abstract

While no one doubted the historic nature of the handshake between Arafat and Rabin in Washington on 13 September 1993, it could only be the beginning of a period of reappraisal for both Israelis and Arabs. Each would have to examine not just the positions of their former enemies but also their own fundamental assumptions. It was, of course, the first clear sign of a possible accommodation between Arabs and Jews since the 1920 riots had revealed the strength of Palestinian opposition to Zionist aspirations. Neither side had a monopoly of virtue. The Arabs had always been an unwelcome presence for the Zionists, standing in the way of the ultimate redemption of the land. There was no master plan to expel the Arabs en masse but if circumstances arose, as in 1948 and 1967, when their departure could be encouraged, then it was. Decades of homelessness for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians followed, their refugee camps a symbol of the disaster that had befallen them. In the 1980s, Arab lands were regularly expropriated in the Occupied Territories to serve as the basis for future Jewish settlement.