SENTINEL WATCH July 5, 2010 Issue

MIDDLE EAST PEACE: LET THE PAST BE GONE

SHELLY RICHARDSON

Indirect middle east peace talks have started again after being stalled 16 months. United States Middle East envoy George Mitchell has been meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, trying to broker an agreement that will bring peace to these two peoples.

Some believe Middle East peace is a lost cause, but others think peace propects have never been better. Salam Fayyad is focused on creating a future for a Palestinian state. He rejects "victimhood" and, in a departure from some past Palestinian leaders, believes that nonviolence is the only path to peace.

Israel, however, continues to plan construction in East Jerusalem—land promised to the Palestinians in the 2003 peace agreement. Other actions by the country make it easy to question Israel's sincerity. Some would say these actions are taken because the Israelis have never known real peace. Although it has great military might, Israel has a relatively small population to defend a small area of land, in the middle of Islamic territory. Thousands of battles over the centuries have been fought for the control of this part of the world. Yet military might and political maneuvering have been unable to provide the trust or stability needed to move toward a just and permanent peace.