The West, in particular the US, has this perverse idea that the Palestinians, the victims of 60 years of dispossession and brutal occupation, somehow have the onus of having to prove their sincerity in wanting to make peace with Israel in order to earn back the homeland that was unlawfully stripped from them in 1948.
The hypocrisy and sheer idiocy of requiring the victim to kowtow to his oppressor should be obvious, but where Israel is concerned, all rational thought ceases.
But in the interest of perhaps fomenting a final peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians, here is a very simple litmus test, in three parts, which will make it easy to determine whether Israel is truly sincere in its desire to have peace:
1. Israel must unequivocally acknowledge the right of the Palestinian people to exist.
2. Israel must renounce violence against the Palestinians
And the one test that will really prove Israeli sincerity:
3. Stop, now, this instant, and forever more, any new or ongoing expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory.
Until and unless Israel is willing to commit to these three extremely simple affirmations, there is no chance for a settlement.
I know, I'm not holding my breath either.