AS hard as it is to disagree with the insight that the seven years that have passed since Israelis and Palestinians last attempted to negotiate a peace agreement in Taba in 2001 were lost and wasted, it is clear that optimism about the current Israeli-Palestinian negotiations is in short supply. Few people believe that the ambitious goal that was set last autumn in Annapolis — to produce an agreement by the end of this year — is realistic.
Yet, in his recent statements, Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas seemed to reject the widely-held view that the negotiations were futile. He emphasized that the talks “haven’t been for nothing,” adding: “We would have stopped it if it was pointless. There are benefits that I hope will show in the future.”
What these benefits might be is anyone’s guess, though there is certainly no shortage of speculation in the Israeli media about what is being offered, rejected and negotiated behind closed doors. And while there have been tantalizing hints that “Israel and the Palestinian Authority are closer than ever to a peace deal”, statements that stress the gaps that remain between the two sides are clearly much more frequent.
Given the fact that last weekend marked the 15th anniversary of the Oslo Accords, it is indeed high time to make a determined effort to finally bridge these gaps, as the Palestinian president rightly emphasized in an interview he gave to Ha’aretz on that occasion. Early on in the interview, he proudly noted that “even senior Israeli officials now admit that we are doing an excellent job”.
Indeed, Israeli officials do admit that — and the implications should not be underestimated: As Avi Issacharoff argues in Ha’aretz, the impressive performance of the Palestinian security forces means that it is time for Israeli security officials to re-evaluate their dismissive views of the reliability of Palestinian commitments to build a state willing and capable to enforce law and order and rein in the forces opposed to a peace agreement with Israel.
It is hardly an exaggeration to say that the responsible US official, Gen. Keith Dayton, is helping to lay the foundations for a Palestinian state — and it is certainly encouraging to read that Dayton “is confident his endeavor will succeed”.
Yet, it is arguably worthwhile to ask whether entrenched views, formed during the long-running conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, have come to function as blinders that obscure a new and different reality: A Palestinian state in the making, led by dedicated politicians who are firmly committed to achieving a negotiated two-state solution.
