Alon Ben-Meir
What happened to the spirit of
Is now the right time to pursue a peace agreement? This question is being debated vociferously in
If there has ever been a time to push for a comprehensive Middle East peace agreement, the beginning of 2009 appeared to be it. A new American president had just come into the Oval Office, committed from day one to help the parties reach a two state solution.
Meanwhile, security cooperation between
In the end, however, all of the parties failed to seize the moment. The reasons are many, and have been analysed by pundits ad nauseam for the past two years. Ever since, the prospects for peace have appeared to significantly regress. Gone are the high hopes that accompanied President Obama into the
If on the surface the ingredients were in place for a breakthrough in 2009, the recipe today appears to have the region headed for disaster - but is it? There are two main schools of thought with regard to the window of opportunity for Middle East peace. The first argues that there is never a perfect time to pursue peace, to which I wholeheartedly subscribe, and therefore opportunities for peace must be continuously pursued and even created. Furthermore, moments of crises could in fact lead to moments of opportunity for peace. This view is most often predicated on the belief that if
On the contrary, the second argument posits that without necessary assurances - whether security, political, economic or social - pursuing peace is an unnecessary risk and a distraction to securing short-term national objectives. This perspective generates the commonly heard arguments that peace cannot be pursued until
The debate between these two arguments can be easily resolved today with an additional question: Is Israel better off than it was two years ago? The answer is unequivocal: no.
But what can and should
Rather than making a major concession under pressure,
The
The Palestinians have refused to negotiate, despite
If the
In navigating the current regional environment, Israeli leaders today should reflect on the famous saying by Rabbi Hillel: "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And when I am for myself, what am 'I'? And if not now, when?" There will never be a perfect time to make peace with enemies. However, there is never a bad time to take steps toward peace that could ensure
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