February 03, 2014 12:15 AM
By David Ignatius
The Daily Star

STORY SUMMARY

Hoping to understand the current Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in human terms, I made a visit last week to a Palestinian farmer named Hammadeh Kashkeesh, whom I first met 32 years ago.

First, try to imagine the landscape, and how it has changed in the years of Israeli occupation.

Now, the landscape is dense with Israeli settlements, many of them built since the Oslo Accord in 1993 that created the Palestinian Authority.

The Israeli military controls access and intervenes when it sees a security threat.

Such tactics have had ruinous consequences for Palestinians, not least in undermining Israeli hope that they ever could live in peace.

When I first visited the town, openly advocating a Palestinian state could get you arrested.

Now, the U.S. is working with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators on a “framework agreement” outlining terms for peace accord.

But Kashkeesh said he has nearly given up. He dislikes the Palestinian Authority almost as much as the Israelis.

Read more: http://dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Columnist/2014/Feb-03/245992-palestinian-indignity-makes-peace-an-elusive-goal.ashx#ixzz2sFDm40RN
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)