It is official the peace initiative that was so earnestly restarted with vigor by John Kerry and President Obama has died with a bang. The Palestinian Authority (PA) signed up to join 15 international treaties and conventions, so Israel rightly cancelled its last release of Palestinian criminals. In addition, the PA also set new conditions for peace talks to resume. Considering the PA has not publicly agreed to a concession or condition themselves, it is clear to me that the Palestinian Leadership (including Fatah and Hamas) has no interest in compromise, let alone forming a peaceful two state solution. In my opinion, it is time for Israel to set its own conditions for resuming negotiations, such as:
- The Palestinians must hold democratic elections across both the West Bank and Gaza and form a stable government
- The Palestinians must recognize Israel as a “Jewish State“
Until the above two items are met, the Palestinians lack maturity and are not ready to come to the table. It is up to the Palestinian people if they really want peace. They need to make a decision if they want to start making a future more than they want Eretz Israel. Until such point, I feel Israel is justified to step back from the peace process table and continue down a path of forced separation. Anything else is just wasting time with no possibility for real results.
