| After years of vacillating on Palestinian national aspirations, the majority of Americans have come to favor "the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the West Bank and the Gaza strip." Reflecting that shift in public opinion, through the "roadmap," President George W. Bush has committed US foreign policy to that end, calling for "establishing two independent states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side within secure and recognized borders." Consequently, the main question asked by Arab Lobby and US Foreign Policy is why the US has shifted from an "Israel only" position toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to supporting an "Israel and Palestine" formula for peace. In order to address this question, American public opinion, the pro-Israel lobby, and the pro-Arab lobby were examined for interactions with US decision-making toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before and after the end of the Cold War, specifically from the Camp David period of the late 1970s until the invasion and occupation of Iraq during the mid 2000s. Arab Lobby and US Foreign Policy concludes that while international factors such as the collapse of the East-West rivalry cannot be overlooked, changes in domestic public opinion and lobbying had significant impacts on the US led international community's efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with two states. |
