Israel seems to be hopelessly delusional about making peace with the Palestinians. Striking a deal at any price is, apparently, a priority for the shaken Israeli Prime Minister. Worse, Barak’s deal not only fails to recognize the legitimate rights of the Palestinians, but also firmly plants the seeds for more conflict. Excluding the Palestinian refugees, for example, from a final settlement is bound to backfire.

“Barak’s” recent peace proposals wilfully neglect the key factors behind the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Without the return of the Palestinian refugees and full Palestinian sovereignty over all of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and east Jerusalem, there can never be peace. This is the bottom line. The cause of the conflict is Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory in June 1967, therefore, the key to its resolution. Israel must end its occupation; there is really no way round it.

Until Israel realizes that its peaceful coexistence in the Middle East is bound by its recognition of all the rights of the Palestinians, the prospects for peace will be, to say the least, rare.