The complete idiot’s guide to Mideast peace – part 227

As truce talks teeter, Netanyahu says Gaza operation will take time | The Times of Israel    ‘Jerusalem says no negotiations under fire; six rockets hit south since midnight; Palestinian FM says PA will sue Israel for war crimes; 8 Palestinians killed since Saturday, including senior Hamas official ‘

It will certainly take time if no negotiations can be undertaken. But, even if they are, past experience has ably demonstrated that, whatever the outcome achieved, the results will be worth hardly anything at all and very little can then be expected of them.

So, what progress can be acquired if negotiating under fire is never acceptable and doing so in relative calm is unlikely to fare any better?

In such circumstances, only two options present themselves for any sort of serious consideration.

1. Carry on much as before and hope for a break in the clouds, a propitious alignment in the stars, an event which may never occur but is, nonetheless, a remote possibility. Even if only the most favourable of conditions will ever allow this to happen, it might just be worth waiting for.

2. Use the situation as it stands and incorporate into it the strongest possible bias towards closure that the problem is capable of sustaining.

www.laxiankey.com  – ‘ for those of us with better things to do.’

This is a concept that may be difficult to grasp at first but, with hindsight, it can all become so much clearer than it is at present.