TinyTartar
Banned
The intractable status of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is something I think is overstated.
In 2007, the Annapolis Peace Conference actually came a lot closer to peace than most people thought it had any chance to. What derailed it is difficult to say, but Olmert's legal troubles did not help at all. Bush and Rice apparently came into it a lot more prepared than most thought they would, and seemingly got on better with both sides than Clinton was able to at Camp David. Despite the scoffing before its onset by most experts on the conflict, there might have been room for a comprehensive peace plan to come forth.
The Kerry Plan, again, scoffed at by most experts, apparently came a lot closer to peace than most people expected. Netanyahu, usually not open to negotiation, was pissed off at his coalition and maybe out of spite was willing to make concessions he normally never would. It was the unity government that eventually scuttled the talks, but by that point, things had already gone downhill over the issue of prisoner releases that even members of Meretz winced at.
Basically, as doom and gloom as we like to see this issue, is there any way in your opinion that either of these attempts at solving the conflict could have resulted in a Palestinian state? What would have needed to happen?
In 2007, the Annapolis Peace Conference actually came a lot closer to peace than most people thought it had any chance to. What derailed it is difficult to say, but Olmert's legal troubles did not help at all. Bush and Rice apparently came into it a lot more prepared than most thought they would, and seemingly got on better with both sides than Clinton was able to at Camp David. Despite the scoffing before its onset by most experts on the conflict, there might have been room for a comprehensive peace plan to come forth.
The Kerry Plan, again, scoffed at by most experts, apparently came a lot closer to peace than most people expected. Netanyahu, usually not open to negotiation, was pissed off at his coalition and maybe out of spite was willing to make concessions he normally never would. It was the unity government that eventually scuttled the talks, but by that point, things had already gone downhill over the issue of prisoner releases that even members of Meretz winced at.
Basically, as doom and gloom as we like to see this issue, is there any way in your opinion that either of these attempts at solving the conflict could have resulted in a Palestinian state? What would have needed to happen?