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Brexit teaches Israel, Palestinians lesson on interim agreements

With Brexit complicating the 1998 Northern Ireland Good Friday agreement, Israel and the Palestinians must beware of holding onto an interim agreement and not reaching a final one.
(FILES) File picture of  British Prime Minister Tony Blair (R), US Senator George Mitchell (C) and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern (L) smiling on April 10, 1998, after they signed an historic agreement for peace in Northern Ireland, ending a 30-year conflict. The Good Friday Agreement signed 10 years ago, was approved by a referendum. The agreement was promoted to the nationalist community as delivering civil rights, inclusive government, recognition of their Irishness, and a peaceful route to Irish reuni
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The Belfast Agreement that went into force 20 years ago, also known as the Good Friday Agreement, ended the long, bloody conflict in Northern Ireland. Most parties supported the agreement. The people of Northern Ireland and of the Irish Republic approved it in two referenda, and its leading architects John Hume and David Trimble were awarded the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize months after the signing.

The governments of the United Kingdom and the Irish Republic signed the agreement, and both the Unionists, who wanted Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom, and their Republican rivals pledged to implement it. The deal included disarming all militias within a few years, a commitment to ending the conflict by democratic means and establishment of an autonomous government in Belfast with equal representation of Catholics and Protestants. It also stipulated that the Legislative Council could only approve proposed laws with a Republican and a Unionist majority, and British sovereignty would be eased — for example, by disbanding the British army units in Northern Ireland. However, the Northern Irish autonomy would remain under UK sovereignty until residents vote in a referendum on whether to remain part of the United Kingdom or join the Irish Republic.

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