Why Peace Rarely Happens—And How We Can Change That |
Most people assume peace fails because people don’t want it badly enough.
But the truth is more sobering—and more hopeful.
As Raphael Cohen-Almagor explains, peace between Israelis and Palestinians requires a rare convergence:
• An Israeli leader willing to pay the political price
• A Palestinian leader willing and able to compromise
• Both leaders persuasive enough to bring their people along
• A shared sense that delay is more dangerous than risk
These conditions are logical.
But they almost never appear together.
And if we keep waiting for the perfect moment, peace will remain a dream deferred—always just out of reach.
Some still believe Mahmoud Abbas could be that Palestinian leader. But few Palestinians follow his lead. Many see him as compromised or ineffective.
And here’s the real problem:
Leadership doesn’t appear in a vacuum. It grows—or withers—inside political ecosystems.
The Palestinian Side: Fragile Ecosystem, Faulty Incentives
The Palestinian political system is fractured. Power is split. Institutions are weak. Conspiracy theories about Israeli intentions thrive.
And worst of all: the system rewards militancy over responsibility.
In such an environment, expecting a peaceful leader to emerge spontaneously is simply unrealistic.
The Israeli Side: Trauma, Mistrust, and Paralysis
On the Israeli side, decades of violence—most recently October 7—have deeply scarred public opinion. For many Israelis, peace no longer feels like hope.
It feels like danger.
Any plan that relies on trust without proof is politically dead on arrival.
This is the core dilemma:
Each side is waiting for the other to change first.
But waiting has now become a strategy for doing nothing.
Israeli leadership has no alternative to the status quo. Even voices like Yair Golan, who mention “separation,” offer no detailed plan—because any specifics would cost them electoral support.
The Wall of Mutual Assumptions
There’s something........