Peace Process?

It seems John Kerry's political capital has shot up over the last few days. What had been widely panned as his bumbling and hopeless efforts to reignite the peace process have suddenly produced fruit, perhaps more due to the EU's threats of sanctions, but that might be neither here nor there. For now, let's focus on the fact that the parties might just start talking.

Embarking on peace talks for either Israeli or Palestinian politicians is a potential political minefield. Of course, many of each side's constituents want peace, but they have radically different conceptions of what that might look like and from where they might want to start that process. For example, on the Israeli side, the governing coalition, led by Bibi, includes Naftali Bennett, leader of the Jewish Homeland party. Bennett was elected on a platform that included a one-state solution: he suggests there is no viable Palestinian state west of the Jordan river. If the terms of the proposed negotiations with Palestinians are to start from 1967 borders, Bennett has threatened to leave the ruling coalition. We shall see.

Among the main issues that have proved so intractable in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are:

1. the status of Jerusalem
2. borders; land swaps for settlements
3. right of return for Palestinians (e.g. some 70% or more of Jordan's citizens consider themselves to be Palestinians)
4. Israel's security concerns; recognition of the state of Israel
5. emotional wounds related to the conflict

It's true that many people have lost faith that peace is attainable here, but at the same time, everyone (I know in Israel) wants the conflict to end. From the mothers who from the moment they birth a son (daughters have more options) know he is destined to serve in the IDF with unknowable consequences, to the teachers who bid their senior students goodbye to an uncertain future (not a four year undergrad degree), to the veterans who have served and stay on reserve to protect Israel, to those who have seen, in action, that the occupation exacts real costs from Israel: There is a resounding chorus of "enough". Obviously, it is a huge leap to think Israel's defence concerns will be resolved if peace with Palestinians is made; it is uncertain how countries in the neighbourhood will respond to a peace between Palestinians and Israel.

Still, let's hope for progress on peace.