Something other than peace

Shoshana Bryen has written an article about the peace process where she opines, "if 'peace' is the goal of the 'peace talks,' the parties are doomed to fail."
She further summarizes the main issues of both parties.

"For Israel, there are three:

•Recognition of the Third Jewish Commonwealth -- the State of Israel -- as a permanent and legitimate part of the region and the community of nations (also known as "end of conflict, end of claims");
•"Secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force" -- the promise of U.N. Resolution 242 -- and
•The capital of Israel in a united Jerusalem.
For the Palestinians, there are also three:

•International recognition of an independent Palestinian State without recognizing borders for the Third Jewish Commonwealth;
•Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state; and
•The right of refugees of 1948/49 and their descendants to live in places from which they -- or their antecedents -- claim to have originated inside the boundaries of pre-'67 Israel.
Israel's interest in a united Jerusalem is practical as much as anything else. The U.N. had promised Jewish access to Jewish holy places within the city in 1948 but failed to a) deliver access and b) prevent the wholesale destruction of Jewish patrimony on the eastern side after the expulsion of the Jewish community. Israel is unlikely to substitute future promises of access for its current ability to operate an open city for Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike."

She concludes, "to understand the requirements of both parties is to understand that something other than "peace" is at issue. And that would be a starting place for realistic goals and limitations on the Quartet and on the American government."

Another article that caught my eye this morning.
Three Palestinians were pronounced dead on Tuesday morning after Egyptian authorities pumped sewage inside a smuggling tunnel under the Gaza border on Sunday.