Gershon Baskin

Abbas will demand Palestinian rights in Jerusalem and he will demand that the refugee issue be negotiated and not conceded prior to negotiations.

Obama and the Quartet must now cease the efforts to bring the sides to the table and spend the next six months drafting the plan and the means for providing long-term security assurances for the State of Israel and for the State of Palestine.

The Center for Israeli Progress as a leading think-tank dedicated to improving the lives of Israelis by developing ideas and actions through the prism of a progressive agenda. The focus will be to articulate a clear, pragmatic direction for Israeli politics that will assist in reconstructing the progressive side of the Israeli political map.

Gershon Baskin believes that Palestinian unilateralism might be the best way forward, and a two-year plan for Palestinian statehood, supported by Obama and the Quartet with significant aid and assistance, successfully demonstrating Palestinian resolve for statehood and peace with its neighbour might be the best way to convince the Israeli public that they must allow the Palestinians to gain freedom from Israeli control.

The Obama-Netanyahu-Abbas summit was a disappointment mainly because of the (perhaps not reasonably) high expectations that much of the world has held for the new US Administration (including me).

Rosh Hashana is a time for reflection, a time to look back while considering the future. Israel is an amazing country. There is so much to be proud of, so many achievements in such a short time. No other country has accomplished so much while faced with so many challenges. Yet with all its achievements, it is difficult to predict if Israel’s immediate future carries the promise of peace, security and prosperity, or a much less happy fate.

President Obama should not be deterred by the noise that those who oppose peace on both sides make. The majority of Israelis and Palestinians really do want peace and if these principles are accepted, President Obama will be perceived as being pro-Israeli, pro-Palestinian and pro-peace.

If President Obama and Senator Mitchell are serious about resolving this issue first, they will rapidly come to the conclusion that unless they put the map down on the table, no lines will be drawn at all.

There is no “status quo” in the Middle East. Here are some conclusions that the US team should be presenting in Washington.