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While new 'multidimensional' peacekeeping missions emerged at the end of the Cold War, more 'traditional' monitoring missions continue to operate. This work reviews the three current peacekeeping missions in the Middle East, with mandates to monitor buffer lines or zones between Israel and its previously warring neighbours: the UN Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO), the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). We provide an overview of these three missions, their mandates, the circumstances from which they emerged and evolved. We then consider causal factors that have contributed to their effectiveness over the years and examine how such factors apply in the current state of these missions. Finally, noting that the region evolves and so must the missions, we offer recommendations for how they could remain effective into the future by investing in new technological capabilities and maintaining the integration between their analysis units. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article examines the Foreign Relations documents of the U.S. and the papers of government officials in the Truman administration that reveals the possibilities for peace in the Middle East in 1949 and the opportunities present for the U.S. to have played a major role in the peace process. The first Arab-Israeli war came to an end with the signing of an armistice agreement between Egypt and Israel on the island of Rhodes, on February 24, 1949, under the direction of United Nations Mediator Ralph Bunche. Within the next five months, successful armistice agreements were concluded between Israel and Trans Jordan, Lebanon and Syria; and permanent peace negotiations were expected to follow before the year's end. In order to appreciate the possibilities for peace in the Middle East in 1949, we must go back to December 1948 when the United Nations General Assembly, in anticipation of the end of hostilities between the Arabs and Jews, established a Palestine Conciliation Commission consisting of representatives from France, Turkey and the U.S. Its major task, which was to be pursued concurrently with the armistice negotiations, was to negotiate peace treaties between Israel and the Arab states. Along with its pursuit of permanent peace, the Commission was also to formulate a plan for the internationalization of Jerusalem and to arrange for the repatriation and resettlement of approximately 725,000 Palestinian Arab refugees.

The Six-Day War was a short but bloody war between Israel and Egypt, Syria and Jordan in June 1967. Following quite a while of strategic rubbing and honing among Israel and its neighbors, Israel Defense Forces propelled preventive air strikes that disabled Egypt's flying corps and their partners. Israel at that point organized an effective ground hostile and held onto the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip from Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria. The concise war finished with a U.N. - handled truce, however it altogether modified the guide of the Mideast and offered ascend to waiting geopolitical rubbing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the report of the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) on several issues. He denouces the conflicts in the Middle East and calls for cease-fire and strengthening of the peace-keeping forces on the Israeli-Arab border. He cites the implications of the rising number of migration due to wars, human rights violations, poverty and environmental protection for churches. He notes that WCC plans to create a commission that will discuss how to strengthen the participation of the Christian World Communions in WCC.

The article discusses peace and armistice in the Near East. It states that peace in the Near East is important to the State of Israel, Arab people and to the Western countries. Peace can be achieve by negotiations, mutual compromise and agreement between Jews and Arabs. It mentions that the Jewish colonization in Palestine may become a very crucial factor in the development of Near east.