Israel and the Arab Peace Initiative, 2002-2014: A Plausible Missed Opportunity

This article analyzes the Israeli position toward the Arab Peace Initiative (API), which was adopted by the 2002 Arab League Summit in Beirut. The API has been the most dramatic and progressive Arab initiative ever presented to Israel, and has remained on the negotiating table ever since it was first proposed. Unwilling to recognize the magnitude of the change in the Arab position, succeeding Israeli governments have never officially responded to the initiative for various reasons. The main argument of the article is that by constantly evading the API, Israel has missed a genuine opportunity to advance the peace process.