August 3, 2013

Show the Leaders The Road To Peace

By Alon Ben-Meir
If there was even a small chance of success in the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, they would have to be based on three fundamental tenets. First, they must come to an agreement on the critical issue of borders, delink it from other difficult conflicting issues (e.g. Jerusalem and the refugees), and remain committed to it, rather than aiming for achieving a comprehensive peace which is not attainable at this juncture. Second, the U.S. should remain resilient, advance ideas of its own, and use its leverage on both sides to keep them on track. Finally, trust must be cultivated between Israelis and Palestinians through people-to-people interactions, which is the subject of this article. Repeated polls suggest that a clear majority of Israelis and Palestinians want peace. Now that formal negotiations have started, they must no longer remain complacent. It is up to them to initiate people-to-people interactions that must occur concurrently with the peace talks. This is the only way to...(Read Full Article)