The Middle East peace process is the longest running piece of diplomatic theater on the world stage. The outside powers want the conflict to end but aren’t wedded to any particular ending.

Most outsiders can live with 0 Israeli settlements or 5 or 5,000 on the West Bank as long as both the West Bankers and the Israelis buy in. But Israelis and Palestinians both care, passionately, about where the boundaries are, who gets what water, and what happens to the holy places.

(Walter Russell Mead – American Interest)

The writer is Henry A. Kissinger senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.