I would advice Abbas to renounce the preconditions he set for renewing negotiations with Netanyahu. The prime minister represents a majority of Israelis, who are willing to engage in dialogue with the Palestinians yet at the same time continue to take over additional territory in Judea and Samaria. Realities on the ground, with the essence being the recognition that nearly 500,000 Israelis live beyond the Green Line, dictate the conduct of every PM in his talks with the Palestinians.

This is the Israeli partner, just like this is the Palestinian partner.

Abbas will not renounce the outline of his narrative, including seeing those who we perceive as murderers as “prisoners in the Palestinian struggle for the establishment of a state.” Meanwhile, an Israeli leader would not be able to renounce the demographic realties that emerged in the West Bank in the wake of the Six-Day War.

The late Yitzhak Rabin would say that all Israelis have a dream: One morning they will wake up and not see their Arab neighbors. Rabin would drily conclude by saying that this dream would never materialize: The Arabs are here, the Palestinians living alongside us won’t disappear, and we therefore must initiate moves that would make life in our region tolerable for both sides. Rabin worked to achieve this objective, until he paid with his life.

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