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Diplomacy is a binary endeavor. Either you succeed … or you fail. Even if discussions continue beyond the April 30 target date, when measured against the standard US Secretary of State John Kerry set when he embarked on his now grievously wounded diplomatic effort last July — a final status agreement in nine months — failure is the only honest verdict.
Whatever positive energy the Oslo process unleashed was dissipated long ago. In the late 1990s, I hosted quiet discussions between a prominent leader of the settlement movement and a top Yasser Arafat confidant. Both talked easily about the prospect of two states. My settler friend even commented positively and graciously on his opposite’s qualifications to be Palestine’s first president.
