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John Kerry Pursues a Narrow Peace
(Washington Post) Editorial - The intense focus of Secretary of State John Kerry on the long-moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace process when neighboring Egypt is collapsing into chaos and Syria's civil war rages unabated provokes more than a little head-scratching among diplomats from the Middle East. Though neither side has yet agreed to the resumption of negotiations, it would not be surprising if they did, eventually, if only to avoid being blamed for a failure. But what happens when and if negotiations start? In 2008 Abbas rejected an offer from Netanyahu's predecessor, including the incorporation of half of Jerusalem into a Palestinian state and the "return" of some Palestinian refugees to Israel. Like previous failed U.S. initiatives, Kerry's diplomacy ignores the powerful Hamas movement, which controls Gaza, opposes a peace deal and is capable of disrupting negotiations at any time by resuming missile attacks against Israel. Kerry banks on the support of Arab states, but two of Israel's Arab neighbors have no functioning government. We'd like to believe that Kerry recognizes that a peace deal is not feasible now and is aiming at useful interim steps. Those would be achievements worth an investment of time.