EUROPEAN DIPLOMACY AND ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT, 1978 – 1980

In addition to the bloodstained battle in Lebanon, the closing years of the 1970s also saw the Israelis at loggerheads with the Palestinians on the diplomatic “battlefield.” While the Israeli representatives continued to refuse any idea of negotiation with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), arguing that it was a terrorist group whose main aim was to destroy Israel; the PLO representatives struggled to assure world leaders that they were ready to accept a diplomatic settlement of the conflict based on mutual compromise. The hopes that the American president Jimmy Carter had given to the Palestinians at the beginning of his office were not fulfilled. Carter’s 1977 idea of a “Palestinian homeland” had not been realized. In contrast, the occupation of Palestinian territory and the construction of new illegal Israeli settlements intensified. Therefore, Yāsir cArafāt, the PLO chairman, needed to search for international support elsewhere.