Originally Posted by Dylan H
There will be a point in history when rational Palestinians will remember the rejection of that offer as possibly being the greatest disaster in their history since 1948.
The other problem the Palestinians have always had is a lack of a coherent command and control structure. Fatah could well negotiate a ceasefire with the Israelis with the best of intentions only to have the rug pulled out from under them by some renegade group firing rockets into Israel or organising a suicide bombing expedition and thus violating the ceasefire. Now keeping these elements under control is even harder because much of the Palestinian security infrastructure has been destroyed by the Israelis, but unless the Palestinians can instill discipline within their ranks real peace will be impossible.
The Israelis put obstacles in the way of peace efforts too, engaging in talks whilst expanding settlements for example. That kind of behaviour really needs to stop. Also how did Israelis react to the killing of Prime Minister Rabin? Most countries would have been determined to finish the peace process he had started, instead Israelis voted for a politician who had views more in common with his assassin to succeed him.
Ultimately both sides are running out of time. On the Israeli side the birth rate of the religious right outstrips that of mainstream Jews and immigration ensuring that Israel gets more polarised, whilst the extremists are getting more powerful on the Palestinian side as the mainstream political groups keep failing to deliver promised improvements. If peace seems hard to achieve now, it'll only get harder.
Oh and Rani don't worry too much about Eki, his knowledge of the Middle East is derived only through the internet.