Insights

Resolving that Jerusalem will be the capital of two states is not only doable, it is the only way that Jerusalem will be recognised as the capital of Israel.

More than 10 months have passed since President Barack Obama entered the White House and seven months since Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu took over the reins in Jerusalem and there is still no peace process worth mentioning.

Netanyahu campaigned on the slogan of “economic peace” and boasted that he would help the Palestinians build their state from the bottom up by strengthening their economy and thereby “giving them something to lose,” so that they will not revert back to violence.

There is little chance that bilateral negotiations at this time will be capable of producing agreements on either the Israeli-Palestinian or Israel-Syria track. The US mediator has been focusing on “process” rather than “substance”.

Never before has it been clearer what the parameters of Israeli-Palestinian peace are, and never before has the global consensus on those parameters been so overwhelming.

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.