[I]t is surely premature—and counterproductive—to dismiss the negotiations as pointless or doomed to fail simply because reaching an agreement will be painful and complicated.
In many cases, the pessimism has been a consequence of focusing solely on obstacles, rather than potential incentives for an agreement for both parties. In other cases, it reflected not so much pessimism about, but rather opposition to, a negotiated agreement based on serious compromises. …
Similarly, undue optimism has also taken hold in some quarters as the talks continue, in spite of the lack of any concrete achievement thus far. The impressive political spectacle engineered by the White House moved some noted skeptics … to attenuate their resounding “no’s” into muted “maybe’s” about whether the peace process can work. The U.S. administration’s unrelenting persistence on the issue, coupled with the presence of both Israeli and Palestinian leaders insisting that an agreement is possible, seems to have at least temporarily won over some cynics. …
That the talks are even continuing in the face of such serious difficulties is a testament to the will of the negotiators, the influence of the United States and the deep reluctance of Israel and the Palestinians to be blamed for any failure. Neither optimists nor pessimists will find anything that has happened in the negotiations thus far to seriously challenge any of their assumptions. But pessimists should bear in mind that if we are ever to have successful negotiations leading to a peace agreement, they are inevitably going to begin as modestly as this. Access the full article >>
