Ya’alon: Abbas is not a partner for peace | The Times of Israel

‘Defense minister intimates Kerry not an honest broker, says won’t be deal in his lifetime, warns Hamas will take over if IDF leaves West Bank.’

This does not bode well for anyone. None of the principals here seem to have one good word to say about each other and any meeting of minds on what are vitally important issues registers as just the same distant prospect that it’s always been.

So much for nine months of shuttle diplomacy and the many frantic efforts made to keep peace hopes alive. It makes one wonder what more could have been done to salvage a process apparently doomed to total failure no matter what happened in the run up to this present stage.

Unless Messrs. Kerry, Abbas and Obama can pull off some miraculous recovery by Monday 17^th, Saint Patrick’s Day 2014 will still be celebrated but without a Middle East peace settlement anywhere in sight.

Unless, that is, a certain amount of Irish logic takes over to raise matters far above that all too familiar deadlock, an Israeli-Palestinian impasse born out of mindsets shaped by 66 years of conflict. And very little else.

www.laxiankey.com

This may not be the most elegant solution there’s ever been but does that really matter? If it turns out to be the only one capable of getting the job done, then that should be reason enough to think about using it.