US Secretary of State John Kerry’s July 19 declaration of renewed negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians is reminiscent of an observation by Albert Einstein: People who are not sane believe one can do the same thing over and over and expect different results.

Direct negotiations have been held 10 times between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to reach a permanent settlement on the occupied territories. Ten times the talks ended, at best, with no results, and in a round of violence, at worst. American presidents came and went, Israeli governments fell, and a Palestinian leader passed away. Champagne glasses clinked, cameras clicked, and talks began. Generations changed, terrorists blew themselves up and settlements thrived. No agreement materialized.

To understand the challenge undertaken by the Barack Obama administration, let’s briefly review the history of negotiations on ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the occupation. Is it possible that the 44th president of the United States will succeed in bringing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) to an agreement? Will he manage to navigate the path on which three of his predecessors tripped in their efforts to remove the barriers between the Palestinians and eight Israeli prime ministers? Stay tuned for the answer at the end of this article.

The first agreement relating to a permanent arrangement regarding the territories that Israel captured from Jordan in 1967 was signed at Camp David in 1978 by Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat under the auspices of US President Jimmy Carter. The agreement stipulated that negotiations on a final status agreement would begin “no later than the third year of the interim five-year (autonomy) period.” Instead of peace talks, we got the 1982 war in Lebanon.