(Politico) Jonathan Schanzer - Before mediating an agreement between the Palestinians and Israelis, someone needs to first broker a peace deal between the Palestinians themselves. Israel is currently sandwiched between two separate Palestinian statelets: a Palestinian Authority-run West Bank and a Hamas-run Gaza. Both regimes insist that they speak on behalf of the Palestinians. Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Russia have all tried to broker power-sharing agreements between the two Palestinian parties. These governments understand that the low-intensity conflict between the two Palestinian territories makes a peace agreement with Israel impossible. Any diplomatic effort to end the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis must first solve the Palestinian internecine conflict. The writer is vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
2017-01-25 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive