Hiding the Peace Process

The Israeli newspaper describes the shortcomings of the peace process in less than a page:

In view of Netanyahu’s forced recognition of the principle of two states for two peoples, he is proposing to establish the Palestinian state on a portion of the West Bank to remove the burden of Israeli occupation, but without dealing with any of the other issues. However, in this, and similar to the disengagement, Netanyahu is serving the interests of Hamas, seeking to “liberate” more land from “Palestine,” for no return.

Therefore, the prime minister should be reminded that we are interested in bringing the conflict to an end – not only the occupation. Israel and the Palestinians did not begin talks because one side “discovered” the rights of the other, but because they recognized that they had no choice. Israel feared losing its Jewish identity and its democracy, and the Palestinians feared losing territory to the settlement enterprise.

There is nothing wrong with this, nor is there any reason it should have to be otherwise. There is some mutual interest in having, and maintaining, peace. Peace can only come at the end of the conflict, of which the occupation is one part.