And Now, Will Reality Please Step Forward...?

The Palestinian Authority, led by Fatah's Mahmoud Abbas, as the 'moderate' among the Palestinian factions dealing with Israel, has the confidence of the West, as a likely partner for peace with its neighbour. Hamas is deemed to be too militant, unwilling to relieve itself of its constitutional pledge to cause the destruction of the State of Israel. As the moderate faction of the two, much trust is placed in Fatah's public attestations of goodwill and determination to succeed in formulating an agreement that would lead to a two-state solution.

Oddly enough, perhaps it is the honesty of Hamas in refusing to acknowledge Israel's legitimacy and continuing to resort to up-front attacks on the state that should be recognized for a certain type of probity, and Fatah unveiled for its untrustworthiness, saying one thing for public digestion, acting and encouraging its followers to invest in terror that equally matches that of Hamas. Demonstrated by a videotaped performance shown on Fatah TV, controlled by the Palestinian Authority.

Present at the event were former heads of PA security and foreign affairs. Fatah and Hamas students were televised arguing between themselves in a question-and-response forum over which of the two factions represented the best interests of the Palestinians, which presented as heroic and inspired defenders of Palestinian interests through their dedication to wreaking havoc and bloody revenge on their Jewish neighbours. Pro-Fatah students criticized Hamas for their intermittent attacks on Israel from Gaza.

The Fatah students hectored and taunted the Hamas students, extolling the militant virtues of the PLO, as being the first to advance terror attacks on Israel. "The first shot was fired by the PLO, the first jihad was carried out by the PLO with all the other factions - but Hamas always opposed." The audience whistled their approval, and the pro-Fatah students went on to boast about the murders of Israelis in Ramallah where two reservists were arrested by PA police, then lynched by a mob that beat them to death, mutilated their bodies and dragged them through the street.

In the new Obama administration in the U.S., Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated unequivocally that there were no prior agreements between the United States and Israel with respect to enforceable agreements: "In looking at the history of the Bush administration, there were no formal or oral enforceable agreements. That has been verified by the official record of the administration and by the personnel in the positions of responsibility." This, in defence of the U.S. position that there be no further West Bank settlements.

Yet pursuant to the Bush 2003 "Road Map for Peace", a letter forwarded to Ariel Sharon, then-Israeli Prime Minister, dated 2004, stated: "In light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli population centres, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949." And, "A solution to the Palestinian refugee issue as part of any final status agreement will need to be found through the establishment of a Palestinian state, and the settling of Palestinian refugees there, rather than in Israel."

According to Elliot Abrams, then in charge of Middle East affairs at the U.S. National Security Council, and a negotiator at the time, "Not only were there agreements, but the prime minister of Israel relied on them in undertaking a wrenching political reorientation - the dissolution of his government, the removal of every single Israeli citizen, settlement and military position in Gaza and the removal of four small settlements in the West Bank." And we know where that got Israel.

Without assured security there can be no movement toward consolidating a move toward peace between Israel and the Palestinians. The West Bank settlements are an issue that could be discussed and ultimately settled between the Palestinians and Israel, even resulting in a conclusion that land could be swapped, giving the Palestinians part of Israel's geography that hosts mostly Palestinians in exchange for Palestinian land hosting Israelis, which is reasonable.

The trouble with this is that although Palestinian Israelis - living under the aegis of the State, and benefiting from a whole host of civil benefits accruing to them as citizens - are anxious to see a Palestinian state come to fruition; they are not themselves interested in being hived off to be included in that nascent state. This is a problem that could be overcome, however. The much larger problem that has never been adequately faced is that the Palestinian Authority was tasked, under that same road plan, with the urgent need to still terror.

This is something they have not honoured, appear to have no intention of so doing, and until and unless the Palestinian Authority recognizes a need to halt terror attacks on Israel, setting the stage for a potential state-by-state reality, nothing can be accomplished. And therein lies the rub, because it is not clear, not at all apparent, that this is the end aspiration for the PA. Their actions up to now appear to indicate that the search for a two-state solution is a ploy, a sop to the West.

The simple fact being that nothing appears to salve the wounds of an infuriated Palestinian administration that will always view Israel's presence as a disaster, and still harbours an intent to somehow witness or be party to its overthrow, enabling Palestinians to once more take ownership of a geography they deem their own. And here is where the Group of Eight and the The Quartet come in, identifying Israel and Israel alone as the critically intransigent element in the proposed two-state partnership.

It is all very well to call "on both parties to fulfill their obligations under the roadmap, including a freeze on settlement activity", but why not go a little further to the understanding that without security, nothing else quite matters. Urge Israel if they must, to halt settlements, but recognize and urge, demand of the Palestinians to cease and desist in their hatred for and planned attacks on their Jewish neighbour.

First things first. Reasonableness will lead to required responses.