Key Obstacles to Israel-Palestine Peace

Following is a transcript of my remarks on “Key Obstacles to Peace” delivered at a conference on “Peace in the Middle East: Geopolitical Framework for a Sustainable Future” held on May 25, 2025. The conference was organized by Inuka Tatton, founder of the Coalition for Peace and Coexistence, a platform dedicated to fostering dialogue and collaboration across the peacebuilding sector.

I’d like to begin by saying a few words about my worldview. I believe in the right of all peoples to self-determination. Self-determination means that a people defines itself, so it’s not up to the Jews to decide whether the Palestinians are a nation and the same goes for the Palestinians’ opinion of the Jews.

Because I believe in self-determination, I support the two-state solution as the best solution to the conflict. Not the ideal solution — there is no such animal — but the most practical and probably the fairest one.

Inequality and Exclusivity

As for obstacles, I could start with the inequality of the UN Partition Plan, which gave two-thirds of the territory between the river and the sea to one-third of the population.  Half a century later, we saw the historic exchange of letters between PLO Chairman Yasir Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, in which Arafat recognized the State of Israel while Rabin recognized the PLO.  Legitimate state vs. legitimate organization. The inequality is obvious, and it continues to grow.

Since the collapse of the Oslo process, Israel has been ruled by right-wing governments with little interest in resolving the conflict. In 2007, Prime Minister Olmert began negotiations with President Abbas, but the talks took place under the shadow of an impending criminal indictment against Olmert, and he resigned before anything was concluded.

Astoundingly, Benjamin Netanyahu, who won the elections in 2009 after Olmert’s resignation, has remained in power since that time, except for one year in which a so-called “government of change” basically changed nothing and held to the position that the conflict with the Palestinians could be “managed” – meaning that the status quo could be maintained.

Netanyahu returned to power in December 2022 and formed a coalition with the extreme right whose guidelines declared that all the land between the river and the sea belongs exclusively to the Jewish people and vowed to advance Jewish settlement throughout the territory. If you’re looking for obstacles to peace, you could stop right there.

International Community as an Enabler

Before delving further into what is happening in Israel today, I’d like to zoom out and look at the responsibility of the international community, which for years condemned Israeli settlement in the OPT but did nothing to stop it, enabling successive governments to grow increasingly arrogant in their defiance of international law.  There have been signs recently that Europe has reached the end of its rope, but it remains to be seen whether sanctions will actually be imposed. Another thing to watch is the upcoming French-Saudi-sponsored summit on recognition of the State of Palestine. Recognition would help reduce the inequality I mentioned earlier, but if the summit concludes with a declaration of commitment rather than actual recognition, the obstacle of disparity between the sides will remain.

And then there’s President Trump. After Netanyahu’s first trip to DC, many thought annexation was in the bag. The euphoria was short-lived, however, because Trump summoned Netanyahu in April and notified him on live tv that the United States is holding direct talks with Iran. Then he cut a deal with the Houthis, before taking off on a grand tour of the Gulf, leaving Netanyahu to eat his dust. But beware of drawing conclusions about US policy.  Trump’s only interest is the greenback dollar, and just as he flip-flops between Zelensky and Putin, his Middle East BFFs will also change depending on who is lavishing him with the largest gifts and showing him the best profit margin at any given time.

Netanyahu Is Greatest Obstacle to Peace

To get back to what’s happening in Israel, Netanyahu’s opposition to Palestinian statehood didn’t begin on October 7^th. In his 2015 election campaign he declared that there would never be a Palestinian state on his watch, and he hasn’t deviated from that position.

So there you go.  The greatest obstacle to peace at this time – and as an Israeli I say this with sorrow and trepidation – is the prime minister of Israel.

But Israel is a democracy, even if a very flawed one, and its government is chosen at the ballot box. That means that we need to examine how public opinion in Israel shifted from majority support for a peace agreement with the Palestinians to overwhelming opposition.

Israeli Society Lost Sight of the Occupation

The turning point was the failure of the Camp David summit and the outbreak of the second intifada. The Israeli peace camp collapsed as Palestinian partners took up arms again, and most of the general public bought Prime Minister Barak’s version of events. The narrative that there is no Palestinian partner took hold and lives on to this day. On the heels of the “no partner” myth came the unilateral disengagement from Gaza and the birth of the story that when given independence, the Palestinians choose terrorism over peace. Never mind that Israel imposed a siege and exerted control over everyone and everything that entered or left Gaza. In the Israeli narrative, this became another example of the Palestinians “missing an opportunity.”

After the last attempt at negotiations failed in 2014, successive Netanyahu governments entrenched the occupation through settlement expansion, discriminatory legislation, and subtle changes that removed the conflict from the public consciousness. The Armistice line disappeared from maps, the name West Bank was replaced with Judea and Samaria, Palestinian civilian casualties became the “uninvolved” rather than innocent victims, and alleged terrorists were “neutralized” rather than killed. A new generation of Israelis went about its business with lack of awareness or indifference to the persecution taking place across the border. The Abraham Accords boosted Netanyahu’s contention that Israel’s integration into the region is not dependent on a resolution of its conflict with the Palestinians. And then came October 7^th.

Fear and Distrust on Both Sides

Israel’s indefensible conduct of the Gaza war, the casualty toll, the humanitarian crisis, the hate speech coming from the highest echelons – all of these contributed to wiping out the global sympathy and understanding for the trauma suffered by the Israelis on that horrific day. In Israel, however, the nightmare that began with the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas was amplified by the shock over the intelligence failure, the ineptness of the military, and the callousness of the government. Twenty months later, the Israeli public is gripped by despair, fearing for the hostages, having no faith in the government, and believing that the Palestinians aim to annihilate them. The majority want Netanyahu gone, but the pre-Oslo notion that territory equals security is back in full force, and so whatever government replaces Netanyahu is unlikely to have implementation of the two-state solution on its agenda.

It’s important to understand that it’s not that Israelis no longer want peace; they no longer believe that it’s possible, and their fears are not totally groundless. Jihadi terrorism is real, and Hamas’s refusal to disarm is not an indication of peaceful intentions. Furthermore, 77 years of statelessness and 58 years of occupation have eroded the Palestinian public’s belief in diplomacy and increased support for violence, especially among the younger generation. It should go without saying that I’m not condoning violence, but I understand how hatred can take root when the only Israelis a Palestinian has ever seen are those who come to harass, humiliate, evacuate, arrest, or shoot them. A poll published in September 2024 showed that the two sides nearly mirror each other in their unprecedented levels of fear and distrust. And so the obstacles pile up.

I’ve talked at length about Netanyahu, but we also have to recognize that President Abbas’s term in office which began 21 years ago has not exactly inspired confidence in his commitment to democracy. Abbas also recently appointed a deputy, possibly anointing a successor in preparation for his eventual demise. So we can add to our list of obstacles the absence of a leader who enjoys legitimacy in the eyes of the Palestinian people.

Recognition of Palestine

As our time is limited, I’ll stop listing obstacles and conclude with this thought. Peace could be within reach if the Israeli prime minister were to say three little words: Palestinian state now. That would set off a domino effect that would bring most of the obstacles tumbling down, and the world would unite to eradicate any that remained.