Since the mid-20th century, important figures have changed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This week, La Loupe draws their portrait with Frédéric Encel, geopolitician and columnist at L’Express, and Corentin Pennarguear, journalist at the World service. In this third episode, La Loupe traces the career of the Palestinian Yasser Arafat.
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The team: Charlotte Baris (presentation and writing) and Jules Krot (editing and production).
Credits: INA, Palestine Report, RTS
Music and design: Emmanuel Herschon/Studio Torrent
Image credits: EPA/AFP
Logo: Jeremy Cambour
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Charlotte Baris: In the late 1980s, Norway was to be the scene of highly secret meetings. Since the Palestinian uprising, the first intifada in 1987, tensions had been at their highest between Israelis and Palestinians, and discussions remained at a standstill. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat sought to end this crisis. They negotiated out of sight in this northern European country, considered neutral.
A few months later, we are back at the White House. Bill Clinton is now President of the United States. This time, it is not a hug, but a handshake in front of the presidential residence that will go around the world.
On September 13, 1993, Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat signed a new decisive text, the Oslo Accords. Once again, this historic moment was hailed by the international community. And in 1994, Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, the Israeli Foreign Minister, received the Nobel Peace Prize. But despite Yasser Arafat’s efforts, the compromise would soon be in difficulty, and would never work in favor of the Palestinians.
To go further
How Israel Fell into the Hamas Trap, by Thierry Wolton
Summer 94: the pre-campaign for the presidential election, the return of Arafat to Palestine, the death of Kim Il-sung
A Ceasefire With Hamas Would Be a Victory for Israel, by Graham Allison and Amos Yadlin