Reference no: EM133822583

Assignment: History

In May 2011, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a joint session of Congress and in his speech (beginning at 45:50) outlined his vision for peace with the Palestinians.

In September of that year, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addressed the United Nations seeking a peaceful settlement of the conflict by requesting the UN to grant statehood for Palestine.

In an essay of 6to 8 pages, critically analyze these two speeches. How do the two leaders assign blame and responsibility for the impasse in the peace process, and why, according to each has the peace process foundered? Most importantly, how do these two speeches differ in the way they characterize the "final status issues" of the peace process as they emerged from the Madrid Conference (1991) and the Oslo Accord (1993)? How do they differ in their attitudes about international institutions such as the UN and UN resolutions? How do the differences in the balance of power between the two affect the negotiating positions of both leaders? How do they differ on notions of "compromise?" How do both leaders argue about the fundamental pathways and constraints to peace? Finally, in what way does the speech of John Kerry lend support to the arguments of one or both of the two principal protagonists in this debate?

Ideally, your essay should not simply be short-answer responses to the questions above, but should instead frame an "argument" in the form of a claim about the differences in the speeches that is supported by logical reasoning and evidence that backs your claim. Your essay should also contain properly cited sources - lectures, readings, video clips, films, etc. Finally, your essay should be your own work.