The United Nations Un-Captured Peace Process The Case of the United Nations in the Israel-Palestine Conflict (1948-2012)

This thesis aims at analyzing the UN un-captured process of peace in the Israel-Palestine conflict. It also contributes to the ongoing discussion on conflict resolution in the region by evaluating the impact of peacebuilding initiatives in the conflict and also adds to the discussion of enhancing sustainable long term peace amongst the parties. The central question of the study is to find out why the conflict is still in existence, this is guided by the assumption that the UN’s involvement has not yet enhanced peace. The theoretical perspective that guided the study is liberal institutionalism which claims that institutions can increase and aid cooperation between states and Functionalist theory which emphasizes on the role of technical and inter-governmental organizations in the creation of a cooperative international polity. The thesis will use the historical approach method which involves studying, understanding and interpreting events. This approach will rely on secondary data obtained from published literature. The study found out that the conflict is as a result of parties fighting over land, resources and security reasons. It also found out that at the beginning the UN’s had been very active in trying to find a lasting solution however during the eighties and nineties it faced exclusion during peace processes, to date UN has been politically sidelined in the peace processes. Additionally, the UN faces challenges in its contribution to peacebuilding as a result of actors influence, preferential treatment of Middle East refugees and protected values by parties. The study, therefore, recommends that the UN cannot fully succeed in peacebuilding unless it plays an active political role. Additionally, the UN would do better if it avoids biases while handling the conflict as this will help build the parties trust in the UN, also the UNSC should establish a mechanism to enforce their will once they reach a decision.