Palestinians try to salvage the contents of a house demolished by Israeli soldiers during a raid in the West Bank town of Qalqilia. (Khaleel Reash, Maan Images)

For more than two decades political proposals, diplomatic initiatives, and international resolutions, as well as specifically Palestinian and Israeli initiatives, such as the unofficial Geneva Accords, have failed to bring about peace between Palestinians and Israelis. A main reason for this failure is Israeli society's and its leaders' repeated failure to address difficult issues, such as Israel's borders, its treatment of its Arab citizens and its relationship with neighboring countries.

Israel's reluctance to seriously address these issues has left many Palestinians bewildered. For decades Israel and the international community have stated that recognizing Israel and a Palestinian state on only 22 percent of historic Palestine was enough to end the conflict. In the same way, the Saudis thought that their peace initiative - offering Arab recognition of Israel and normalization of relations in return for Israel's withdrawal to the June 1967 borders and a just solution for the refugees issue - adopted at the Beirut Arab League summit of 2002, would encourage Israel's leadership to end the occupation and the conflict.

Today, the international community is again at a loss as Israel refuses to abide by international resolutions and international law. Many Israelis until today accuse Arabs and Palestinians of having wasted a historic opportunity for peace by rejecting the 1947 United Nations partition plan. Yet when Arabs and Palestinians offered the Israelis recognition in a territory larger than those outlined by the plan, Israel wasted the opportunity for peace and continued annexing as much West Bank and Jerusalem land as possible. This Israeli approach has not only made peace difficult, it has made a viable Palestinian state impossible.

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Today, there are four critical issues Israel must resolve internally in order to give peace a chance. The four issues involve Israel's borders, its relationship with its Palestinian citizens and neighbors, its relationship with its Arab neighbors, and its outlook on regional security.

When Israeli leaders talk about borders no one knows exactly which borders they mean. When Israeli Education Minister Yuli Tamir proposed that Israel's borders should be shown in school textbooks to be the pre-1967 "Green Line," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's response was vague. He said: "There is nothing wrong with marking the Green Line, but there is an obligation to emphasize that the government's position and public consensus rule out returning to the 1967 lines." Which borders, then, are Israelis asking their neighbors to recognize?

It is increasingly apparent that Israel's "security fence" in the West Bank is little more than a plan to annex more land. The most powerful evidence is Israel's disregard for the International Court of Justice decision concerning the separation barrier.

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