As the dust settles in Iraq, there are already visible signals from Washington that real efforts are being made to reestablish Palestinian-Israeli political dialogue. The US-sponsored roadmap will most likely be published soon, and the Palestinian leadership is being pressured to put forward a new cabinet, able to deliver real institutional reforms and ready to make serious concessions in order to facilitate Washington’s “vision” for peace in the Middle East.

However, in light of such serious preconditions for negotiations, a word of caution must be clearly said, not least to remind the international community of the imperatives of a viable, lasting, and just peace in the region

No reform within the Palestinian leadership, however stringent, will bare fruit without a real commitment by Israel to end its siege of the Palestinian territories it reoccupied in September 2000. Thirty months of continuous Israeli aggression against a predominantly civilian Palestinian population has left all aspects of Palestinian society paralyzed. Israel must facilitate Palestinian reform by allowing the Palestinian people their freedom of movement, and their basic right to freedom.

Above all, Israel and the US must understand that no peace process will achieve real results without an unconditional end to Israel’s 35 year-old illegal occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and east Jerusalem. Any attempt to bypass this reality will backfire and will only fuel the continuation of the conflict. The main cause of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is Israel’s continued denial of the Palestinian people’s legitimate right to establish an independent state on 22% of historical Palestine. Israel must fully implement UN resolutions 242 and 338.

Finally, any efforts aimed at achieving real peace in the region must take into consideration the plight of the 4.6 million Palestinian refugees. In accordance with UN resolution 194, Israel must allow these refugees their right to return home. The refugees constitute the majority of the Palestinian people altogether; therefore any peace settlement that fails to meet their legitimate rights will fail.

The roadmap will amount to nothing more than an artificial exercise in crisis management, if it fails to take these points into consideration.