Arab Israeli conflict

Introduction
In an attempt to take advantage of this change, US Secretary of State James Baker made some trips to the region in the eight months following the Gulf War.
Later, Madrid invites Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan and the Palestinians to an open conference sponsored by the US and the Soviet Union on October 30, 1991.
“The invitation, an outcome of compromises by all sides, detailed the structure of the Madrid process, an opening conference having no power to impose solutions.”
The breakup of the Soviet Union and the Gulf War reshaped the basic political order of the Middle East.

Body
The Gulf war of 1991 also proved a major factor in bringing about a breakthrough in talks between Israel, the Arabs and Palestinians. Just before the Gulf War, President George Bush promised Arab leaders, that should they join the US led coalition against Iraq. Washington would later turn its attention to sorting out the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Effects
1. In spite of the sour atmosphere portrayed in the harsh opening statements made by the sides, the Madrid Conference succeeded in establishing a two track mechanism for future negotiations between Israelis, Arabs and Palestinians.

2. The first was a multilateral track in which Israel, regional Arab states and other states outside the region would address five key issues: water, environment, arms control, refugees and economic development.

3. The second framework – a bilateral track, was designed for direct talks in Washington between Israel and each of her main adversaries: Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and the Palestinians, the latter two united in a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation.

In conclusion The bilateral talks opened soon after the Madrid Conference, and on January 28 of 1992, the multilateral talks began. However, there was little progress and no significant breakthrough in either track.