A house divided

‘Negotiators from both sides have held some 20 rounds of talks since the summer. Just four months remain until a US-set target date for a final agreement.’                                                                              Times of Israel: January 03. 2014

Even if agreement can be reached between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators, events during and after such an unlikely meeting of minds will surely derail the chances of any long-term settlement; no formal declaration of peace is likely to appear on the region’s statute books.

The historical narratives on both sides have been so long at variance with one another that no power on earth now seems capable of ever fusing them together in union against their common enemy.

And that enemy is the conflict itself and the toll it has taken on each community over the many decades it’s been in existence.

Israelis and Palestinians have been so busy fighting with each other that they do not view this aspect of their quarrel as a separate entity in itself, a combatant that has to be defeated well before turning to the many other issues that divide them.

The primary purpose of any peace initiative must take into consideration this overriding factor and deal with it as a matter of the utmost urgency. The consequences of not doing so are apparent for all to see. Mr. Kerry is making his 10^th visit to the region and yet the odds against him succeeding in his quest for some serious accommodation among all the parties in dispute here have never been higher.

Time then to tackle the real enemy and, surprisingly enough, that enemy is fairly easy to subdue, once given the proper ‘incentive.’

www.laxiankey.com

A house divided against itself cannot stand. And much the same goes for any number of houses.