Building a sustainable peace: The limits of pragmatism in the Israeli–Palestinian negotiations.

Abstract

In this article I argue that the strictly pragmatic, step-by-step approach of Oslo has reached a dead end and that cajoling the parties into signing an agreement is now irrelevant. To move the peace process to a successful conclusion, the parties must now commit themselves to a principled solution whose key elements include prior commitment to a genuine two-state solution as the endpoint of the final-status negotiations, provision of meaningful citizenship to the Palestinians of the territories and the refugees, and mutual acknowledgment of the other's nationhood and humanity. Such a proposal, although seemingly utopian, represents the most realistic option at this juncture.