The West and the State of Palestine: How has Palestine been betrayed by the West following the Oslo Accords?

Abstract

Western involvement in Palestine, that has seen the establishment of the State of Israel, dispossession of the Palestinian people and years of violence, has been an ever-present factor in both the Zionist agenda of annexing Palestinian land – and the continued “peace process” that followed. This thesis will analyze this from a perspective which considers the Palestinian perspective of Western action. In order to do this, it employs the understanding of historical Western involvement as one that ultimately betraying the Palestinian plight in light of both its stated goals through the Oslo Accords – and its responsibility through for example the British Mandate over Palestine. Through an understanding of Orientalism as a theoretical framework it emphasizes how integral a Western understanding of the “Other” is, and how neglect, lack of historical and political awareness and the importance of recognition is to the plight of Palestine