All this forgotten history underscores how dishonest is the claim that the Zionists came to Palestine with dreams of conquest and disposition of the indigenous people.

So, anything but a final deal. Anything but a final peace. Anything but a treaty that ends the conflict once and for all by leaving the Jewish state still standing. Why is that? The Palestinians won’t accept any land-for-peace deal. They want the land without the peace. They want sovereignty for themselves without a reciprocal recognition of the sovereignty of the Jewish state. They want statehood without negotiation and an independent Palestine that can continue its war with Israel.

You will know that Abbas is a serious partner for peace if he finally summons the courage to tell the refugees they are not going back to their ancestral homes in Israel, and that the peace negotiations will reflect the consequences of the 1967 war that they lost, not the 1948 war.