On Oct. 13, in Jerusalem at the 66th International Astronautical Conference, the Israeli Space Agency (ISA) announced it “had signed a wideranging cooperation agreement with NASA, a partnership in the exploration and research of space for the betterment of mankind...”

How tragic that Israelis are now deluding themselves that by engaging in space cooperation with the United States they are enhancing the security of Israel when its citizens have become the target of knife attacks by Palestinian teenagers. If Israel seriously wants to better the life of mankind and to promote world peace, then it needs to start on its own doorstep, on planet earth.

It could begin by de-nazifying its relationship with its Palestinian neighbors whose territories are under illegal and oppressive military occupation while its people are subject to the seizure of their lands and properties, checkpoints, travel restrictions, imprisonment without trial and extrajudicial killings on a daily basis. These, in the words of Hannah Ashrawi form the backdrop to the resurgence of Palestinian uprising in the occupied territories, which under international law are yet to be respected by Israel.

Israelis are being stabbed because they bought the lies of their political leaders who had promised them that their security lies in the intensification of the occupation of the Palestinians’ land and the indefinite denial of their right to self-determination. How can that be a recipe for peace and security for either Israelis or Palestinians?

To suggest that this new form of Palestinian uprising against its illegal Israeli occupiers should in anyway undermine the prospects of a two-state solution is as nonsensical as to suggest that the terrorist activities of the Stern gang played no role in prematurely ending the British Mandate of Palestine and hastening the creation of the state of Israel. The very reverse is therefore the case; the current Palestinian uprising should serve as a reminder to the international community, and not least to the leaders of Israel that their continued occupation of Palestinian lands is past its sell-by date.

As Marwan Barghouti points out: “The real problem is that Israel has chosen occupation over peace and used negotiations as a smokescreen to advance its colonial project.” (Guardian, Oct .12, 2105)

Take note President Obama, Secretary John Kerry and the Quartet.

Only recently in his speech to the United Nations Assembly in New York did Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu reaffirm his commitment to the two-state solution and the creation of a demilitarized Palestinian state alongside the state of Israel. It is important that President Obama, Secretary John Kerry, the Quartet and the entire international community take him at his word because that way and only that way lies long-term peace. Presumably if the two parties were now living naturally in peace and harmony with each other, then there would be no need for the two-state solution, but that is and never has been the case.

President Obama, now in his second term, has nothing to lose and everything to gain by bringing together President Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu for the purpose of initiating negotiations for the creation of a viable Palestinian state. Serious negotiations must be based on a serious commitment by Israel to end the occupation: “To bring peace Israel must end the occupation,” are the words of Barghouti. He is not talking about peace on Mars but the greatest challenge Israel has ever faced i.e. achieving lasting peace with its neighbors here and now on this very planet.