Israel's chance for peace

Israel should make the best of its opponents' current weakness and seize the chance to make peace with the Palestinians, writes the liberal conservative daily The Times: "The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has so far proved intractable because it is not primarily a border dispute. If it were, then a territorial settlement, along frontiers approximating the pre-1967 armistice line, might have been achieved decades ago. A more fundamental problem is that Israel has not had a negotiating partner that it can trust. Not all Israeli governments have been assiduous in seeking one, but the demand for security is incontrovertibly just. That much helps to explain the position of Mr Netanyahu. But his position is politically self-defeating. The Arab Spring has undermined the death-squad despotism in Syria; that in turn weakens Hamas, Syria's client. The most opportune time to secure a pacific, two-state territorial accommodation in the Middle East is when its enemies are weakest. That time is now."

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