Documented here is a typical Israeli tactic for avoiding any actual movement towards peace negotiations:
Israel's Barak dismisses peace push "fantasies"
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak was quoted as saying on Friday that talk of any peace deal with the Palestinians anytime soon was a "fantasy", in a challenge to U.S.-led efforts to revive negotiations.
In private conversations reported by Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, Barak said he would not carry out plans by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to remove roadblocks in the West Bank as a gesture to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The Israeli version of the "good cop/bad cop" routine has played out in endless permutations since the Israeli virus first infected the region. Just change the pertinent pronouns ("Ehud Barak", "Ehud Olmert", etc.) and fill in the date. This is the basic formula for Israeli intransigence: one Israeli politician playing off the other, one portraying the earnest Man of PeaceTM, the other the valiant Defender of Israel fending off the Arab hoardes, and then after the press conference they head over to the bar together to toast their collective performance.
It's always the same, and it reveals the true intent of the Zionists, which is to eventually take over all of Palestine, before turning its sights beyond.
Barak, who as prime minister spearheaded talks with the Palestinians that ended in failure in 2001, was quoted in Yedioth as saying a peace deal would not be possible for at least three to five years. [Emphasis added]
Barak said that is how much time would be needed for Israel to develop defenses against rockets, which Palestinian militants regularly fire into southern Israel from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
Instead of working towards peace, which would put an end to the rocket attacks, Barak wants to first try military means, which never worked before and, short of relocating Israel to Siberia, will not happen ever.
So, how dumb are we? The answer will be revealed in three to five years.