This article was originally published in Arabic by the Palestinian paper Al-Quds and was translated into English by Mideastwire. It is republished with permission.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas meets with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Sunday. (Maan Images)

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice issued a statement at the joint press conference with President Mahmud Abbas following their meeting Sunday, in which she reiterated the commitment of the US to the two-state vision and to the hastening of the implementation of the "roadmap" to achieve this goal. She issued similar statements following her talks in Israel, in which she also pointed out that the majority of Palestinians wanted to live in a place where their sons could grow up in security and peace.

Despite the importance of these statements, they raise many questions, especially since we have heard this stance and this commitment numerous times before, whether during Rice's tours in the region or by the many American supporters and spokespersons. The two-state vision is still obstructed and the situation of the Palestinian people, the overwhelming majority of whom believe in peace, has gotten worse and has deteriorated. Nothing has been implemented on the ground to give hope to the belief that these stances could be carried out.

In that same press conference, President Mahmud Abbas expressed what was on the mind of every Palestinian when he assured that our people rejected temporary or interim solutions, in light of the previous negative experiences since the signing of the Oslo Accords, when the Palestinians demanded a comprehensive and drastic solution to the Palestinian cause that would end the conflict and the consequences it has entailed for six decades and put an end to the settlements, to the annexation, to the expansion, to the separation wall, the blockade, the invasions and the arrests.

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These are the main issues which made the peace process reach a dead end and caused more suffering for the Palestinians. Hence we say that the test of intentions to achieve peace and implement the roadmap until a two-state solution is reached, which was stated by Rice, resides in the level of seriousness of the US to remove the Israeli obstructions and deal with the main issues that have blocked the way to peace and undermined the roadmap.

If the US Secretary of State, as she has announced, wants to show the Palestinian people how to move toward the establishment of a Palestinian state, the road toward ending the occupation and establishing an independent Palestinian state is clear and is supported by the international community. The biggest obstacle we are facing resides in Israel's refusal to end its illegitimate occupation of the Palestinian territories, its insistence on continuing to build settlements and annexing large parts of the Palestinian territories, not to mention the daily blockades, invasions and arrests it is perpetrating.

The Palestinian leadership has announced its approval of the two-state vision and its willingness to implement the roadmap. Since President Abbas represents both the highest power in the Palestinian national authority and the PLO, which is the sole legitimate representative of our people, it is obvious that the ball now is in the Israeli court. While Israel should be responding to the peace efforts, a minister in its government with whom Rice met demanded military aggression against the Gaza Strip and the deployment of some 30,000 troops from the NATO to impose the solution which is wanted by Israel on the Palestinian people and their leadership.

Hence, while we think that the commitment of the US to resume the peace efforts and hasten them until the two-state vision is reached is important, what is more important is how much the US is willing to pressure Israel into abiding by international legitimacy and into ending its occupation. This is the only test of the seriousness of the American stances toward the peace process.