Nine months. That’s the time the United States allotted for the negotiations on a permanent agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. In the course of this short period, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not only have to come to terms with the Palestinians on the final borders, Jerusalem and the refugee problem, and to prepare for the evacuation of tens of thousands of settlers, but also to secure the support of the majority of the Israeli public — or, as far as he is concerned, the majority of the Jewish public — for the agreement, before presenting it for a decision in a national referendum.
This critical time span has been dubbed by experts as the “duality period.” During this short stretch of time, the parties are required to give up symbolic and physical assets, to buy the support of a skeptical or even hostile public on the domestic front and, at the same time, build a culture of peace with a longtime foe. All this, while the signs of the conflict — the occupation, the violence and the incitement — are still present in the field.
