(JOEL LION-timesunion).I have always been an enthusiastic supporter of the peace process. Since I began my career as a diplomat for Israel, it has been actively pursuing peace with its neighbors.
Unfortunately, since the days of the 1993 Oslo accords until today, we have suffered setbacks and heartbreak, but the will to resolve a political solution has never been stronger than it is today.
On Nov. 25, for the first time in our nation's history, the Israeli government ordered a 10-month construction freeze in Judea and Samaria --the areas generally known as the West Bank.
The Palestinians' response: We will not resume peace talks with Israel.
The move taken by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is more than any Israeli leader, including Yitzhak Rabin, has taken for the sake of peace negotiations -- not peace, but negotiations for peace.
Yet the Palestinian reaction should not surprise anyone. Setbacks to peace have come and gone over the years, from the assassination of Rabin in 1995 through the rejections of offers at Camp David in 2000 to the dismantling of all Israeli settlements and the complete withdrawal of Israel from the Gaza Strip.
Still, the hope for peace is not lost.
While the history of the peace process has far too often been defined by tragedy and frustration, all Israelis know that when one door closes, it is not long before another stands ajar.
But we need a partner.
We do not ask the Palestinian people to accept Israel's promise on faith alone. If settlement building is the impasse that prevented Yasir Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas from agreeing to end the conflict, Israel has just taken it off the table.
Two weeks have passed since Netanyahu ordered the construction freeze, a decision that is just as controversial in Israel as it is in the West Bank. Many Palestinians believed a settlement freeze would never happen, and now Israel has called their bluff.
Israeli activities in the settlements are frozen in a sign of Israel's commitment to peace. Now the Palestinians need to show how serious they are about reaching a two-state solution.
Unfortunately, history looks to repeat itself. Just as the Palestinians balked at Israeli offers of almost all of the West Bank, Gaza and even east Jerusalem in the past, they view Israel's settlement freeze as severely lacking.
I have seen this 16-year peace process hit its fair share of highs and lows. And while the immediate response by the Palestinians to this historic gesture has been disappointing, I know how serious my country is to achieving peace with our Palestinian neighbors.
Peace will only come when both sides accept the legitimacy of the other -- the acceptance of a Palestinian state for the Palestinian people and a Jewish state, the State of Israel, for the Jewish people. Israel is ready to accept a Palestinian state. We wholeheartedly offer our outstretched arm to make sure results are realized in 2010.
Unfortunately, since the days of the 1993 Oslo accords until today, we have suffered setbacks and heartbreak, but the will to resolve a political solution has never been stronger than it is today.
On Nov. 25, for the first time in our nation's history, the Israeli government ordered a 10-month construction freeze in Judea and Samaria --the areas generally known as the West Bank.
The Palestinians' response: We will not resume peace talks with Israel.
The move taken by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is more than any Israeli leader, including Yitzhak Rabin, has taken for the sake of peace negotiations -- not peace, but negotiations for peace.
Yet the Palestinian reaction should not surprise anyone. Setbacks to peace have come and gone over the years, from the assassination of Rabin in 1995 through the rejections of offers at Camp David in 2000 to the dismantling of all Israeli settlements and the complete withdrawal of Israel from the Gaza Strip.
Still, the hope for peace is not lost.
While the history of the peace process has far too often been defined by tragedy and frustration, all Israelis know that when one door closes, it is not long before another stands ajar.
But we need a partner.
We do not ask the Palestinian people to accept Israel's promise on faith alone. If settlement building is the impasse that prevented Yasir Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas from agreeing to end the conflict, Israel has just taken it off the table.
Two weeks have passed since Netanyahu ordered the construction freeze, a decision that is just as controversial in Israel as it is in the West Bank. Many Palestinians believed a settlement freeze would never happen, and now Israel has called their bluff.
Israeli activities in the settlements are frozen in a sign of Israel's commitment to peace. Now the Palestinians need to show how serious they are about reaching a two-state solution.
Unfortunately, history looks to repeat itself. Just as the Palestinians balked at Israeli offers of almost all of the West Bank, Gaza and even east Jerusalem in the past, they view Israel's settlement freeze as severely lacking.
I have seen this 16-year peace process hit its fair share of highs and lows. And while the immediate response by the Palestinians to this historic gesture has been disappointing, I know how serious my country is to achieving peace with our Palestinian neighbors.
Peace will only come when both sides accept the legitimacy of the other -- the acceptance of a Palestinian state for the Palestinian people and a Jewish state, the State of Israel, for the Jewish people. Israel is ready to accept a Palestinian state. We wholeheartedly offer our outstretched arm to make sure results are realized in 2010.
