Ten years ago, the world was in turmoil over the Persian Gulf crisis that started with the Iraq invasion of Kuwait. Now a new crisis appears to be brewing between Arabs and Israelis.
The Gulf War has influenced the world in many different ways. It showed the effects and limitations of power. At the recent Middle East summit at Camp David, U.S., Israeli and Palestinian leaders failed to reach agreement over the status of Jerusalem. The basic question was whether to comply with a United Nations resolution or to accept realities that contradict the resolution.
A U.N. resolution adopted in 1947 called for the partition of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states and placed Jerusalem under U.N. control, in effect deciding that the city should not belong to any specific religion. Israel, however, occupied West Jerusalem in the 1948-49 war and seized East Jerusalem in the 1967 war. A U.N. Security Council resolution in 1967 demanded Israeli withdrawal from the areas occupied in the 1967 war. In 1980, however, Israel claimed Jerusalem as its indivisible capital. Most U.N. members, including Japan and the United States, have not backed Israel's claim to Jerusalem as its capital.