Safety Net

The two-state solution may well be the best outcome for both Israelis and Palestinians but getting from here to there has so far proved impossible to achieve. Every attempt to do so has come to grief in one way or another.

Something always comes along to derail whatever peace process is under way and all parties then have to troop back to square one and wait for the next opportunity to try, try again. And each new failure only reinforces the sense of hopelessness long associated with every new proposal to make the situation come right in the end.

With such a high factor of instability always present in the background, some means of establishing the continuity or rapid resumption of dialogue is urgently required. What is therefore needed is a back-up plan, a fail-safe scenario that runs in parallel with any current or future peace talks and provides a safety net should these break down, much as they have done on so many occasions in the past.

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After decades of fruitless endeavour, this is now the only way to salvage something positive from generations of futile conflict, unimaginable suffering and constant fear.

But it will require courage and determination of a very special kind to see it through. From all of us.