"... it is too late. The die has been cast..."

Now we're talking! Let the 'games' begin!

In Yediot Aharonoth via Politico/ here

Every morning, George Mitchell will wake up early in his hotel in Jerusalem and make his way to Ramallah to hear what is new with his colleagues in the negotiations, the leaders of Palestine. Every morning, Dr. Salam Fayyad, the prime minister of Palestine, will wake up early in his home in Jerusalem and make his way to Ramallah to hear the Israelis’ position from Mitchell. Sometimes they will meet on the way, at the checkpoint. Sometimes they will meet secretly in Jerusalem. Mitchell will shuttle from city to city, and Fayyad and others in the Palestinian leadership will shuttle after him. ....

When it comes to Israelis and Palestinians, the diplomatic term “proximity talks” is ridiculous. Proximity talks are held between parties that are distant from one another. Distance is a luxury that the politicians on both sides cannot afford. ....

Mitchell’s declared goal is to bring about an agreement for peace and a final status arrangement that will lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Obama’s vice president, Joe Biden, who is arriving in Israel today, says in the interview with Yedioth Ahronoth that is being published today, that the president and he believe that the gaps can be bridged and that the conflict can be solved once and for all. Biden is an amazingly optimistic man.

Ehud Yaari, a less optimistic commentator, sat for five weeks in the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and wrote a paper entitled “Armistice Now: An Interim Agreement for Israel and Palestine.” ....

Yaari’s basic assumption is that the Palestinians do not really want a state, not if it entails resigning themselves to dividing the land. The Palestinian strategy is to collapse into the arms of Israel. From Israel’s perspective, that is disastrous. It must force them to establish a state. Since they are incapable of signing a comprehensive agreement, they must be compelled to establish a state as part of an interim agreement.

It appears that Yaari’s basic assumption is correct. Abu Mazen and his colleagues in Fatah are missing two vital ingredients for the establishment of a state—willingness to impose painful concessions, and the desire and ability to take responsibility for everything that the day-to-day running of a state requires. The only one in the Palestinian leadership who is working seriously in this direction is Salam Fayyad. It is no accident that he is not a member of Fatah. It is no accident that he sees David Ben-Gurion, rather than Yasser Arafat, as a model to emulate. ....

Abu Mazen does not want a Palestinian state. He is willing, perhaps, to accept it on a silver platter, but he is not willing to pay the required price for it. Netanyahu does not want a Palestinian state either. He is willing to support the idea for public-relations reasons, but is not willing to pay the required price. And perhaps both of them have come secretly to the recognition that it is too late. The die has been cast...."