Tensions remain high as both Palestinians and Israelis cautiously await the fruits of Tenet’s plan for truce, and eventual reestablishment of calm in the region.

Within 24 hours after both sides agreed to the ‘Palestinian-Israeli Security Implementation Work-plan’, one Palestinian civilian and an Israeli army officer have been killed. Strangulating Israeli restrictions on Palestinian movement remain yet unaffected by the work-plan, and the physical presence of Israeli security forces within Palestinian-controlled areas continues to pose potential points of friction.

It must be cautioned that a mere attempt at dealing with the symptoms of conflict, and undermining its actual causes, is bound to backfire and, eventually, contribute to further suffering and bloodshed.

The US-brokered “ceasefire” must not only be followed by immediate steps of implementation, but, more importantly, must be complimented by a clear political and legal agenda that deals with the causes of the Palestinian Intifada, thus, the causes of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict at large.

The ‘Palestinian-Israeli Security Implementation Work-plan’ fails to deliver a comprehensive and accurate interpretation of reality by negating key aspects of the conflict. It willfully detaches the political aspect from the overall process, thus reaches only as far as crisis management and damage control.

A comprehensive and effective truce can only be reached by tackling the core of the conflict, namely, illegal Jewish settlements and their expansion on Palestinian land; Israeli military presence within Palestinian-controlled areas; Israeli siege of Palestinian towns and villages, and the daily violations of the most fundamental Palestinian rights and freedoms.

Furthermore, both Israel and the US must finally come to terms with the fact that a lasting peace will only be achieved through a complete and unconditional Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian land occupied in the June 1967 War and the return of the Palestinian refugees, as stipulated by UN Resolutions 242, 338, 194, and the ‘land-for-peace’ equation.