Clearly, no one expected a breakthrough following Saturday night’s highest level of Palestinian-Israeli talks for more than two and a half years. Palestinian Prime Minster Abu Mazen and his counterpart Ariel Sharon seemed to convey a relatively similar message to each other: we are holding tight to our respective positions, at all cost.

Abu Mazen is determined to secure Israel’s unconditional acceptance of the ‘roadmap’ before taking any steps to suppress Palestinian armed resistance, and Sharon seems bent on keeping his occupation forces in every Palestinian city, town, and village, with no signs of halting illegal settlement construction and expansion in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Meanwhile, as Israel continues to unleash its horrific military assaults against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, undermining any chances for real peace, another Palestinian attack against Israeli civilians in Jerusalem overshadowed the talks, attracting more scepticism to an already ill-fated process.

The Palestinian people remain captive to Israel’s brutality and overwhelming military offensives, and ordinary Israelis continue to pay the price of Sharon’s short-sighted policies of militarism and expansionism, which are driving most ordinary Palestinians to desperate measures.

Sharon’s arrogant declarations last week regarding Israel’s settlement policies, in which he provokingly reasserted his unwillingness to cease illegal settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, are undermining any chances for peace. His attempts to underplay the urgency of withdrawing Israeli troops from the the West Bank and the Gaza Strip bare witness to Israel’s lack of commitment to the latest efforts to reach a peaceful solution to the ongoing conflict.

The Palestinians have little left to compromise; the ball, as it has been for the past two and a half years, is in Israel’s hands. In order to end Palestinian attacks against Israelis, Israel has to end its occupation of Palestinian land; in order to secure Palestinian support for the ‘roadmap,’ Israel has to end its occupation of Palestinian land; and in order to finally end the conflict, Israel has to come to terms with the fact that the Palestinian people are human beings with an inalienable right to exist and live in freedom and independence.