All we are saying

Peace talks between Israel and Palestine begin tonight in Washington. The invited parties include Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian prime Minister Salam Fayyed, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, King Abdullah of Jordan, President Obama and the one and only Hillary Clinton.

The mood in Israel for the past week has been apathetic. Every single Israeli and Palestinian I have asked has rolled their eyes, sighed, and said something bad about both the Israeli and the Palestinian leadership,

Then last night, four Israeli settlers were shot and killed while they were driving close to Hebron, a large city in the West Bank known for its extra tense relationship between Palestinians and Israeli settlers. Hamas took responsibility for the attack and promised more attacks to come. The Israeli settler group, the Yesha Council, has said that they are going to restart building to expand the settlements -- despite an Israeli-enforced moratorium on building -- at 6 pm tonight as a response to the shootings.

Prior to this, Israel threatened to pull out of the talks if there was violence, and Palestine threatened to pull out of the talks if new construction on settlements started. As of now, both parties are still in.

I feel so angry at Hamas. I don't agree with the settlers and I think all of the settlements in the West Bank should be dismantled. But, it is so incredibly infuriating to watch Hamas play a political game to sabotage the peace talks. And, it is equally infuriating to watch the settlers respond with the same political saboteur efforts.

While the leaders of both countries were literally en route, in the air flying to DC for the peace talks, Hamas gives every person who had doubts about the peace process a reason to say that Palestinians don't really want peace, that they are simply committed to destroying Israel and killing Jews. And by responding by restarting construction, the settlers are giving every person who has doubts about the peace process a reason to say that Israelis don't really want peace, that they are simply on a quest to take over as much of Palestine as possible and turn Israel into an apartheid state.

I am learning that every time I open my mouth here, I seem naive and too trusting in each party's want for peace, and I'm starting to feel nervous that by the end of this year I too will be rolling my eyes and sighing at the mention of peace talks. But for now, I still want to feel hopeful. I want Hillary Clinton to work the magic I know she can, and I want John Lennon's bearded self to reemerge with Yoko and for the two of them to walk around with guitars singing, All we are saying, is give peace a chance. Just a small, tiny, itty bitty little chance. I want Hamas and the settlers to stop with the shooting and the construction and the vitriolic, hate filled words in the press for just 24 hours. Let them talk, maybe we'll all be rolling our eyes, but at least we'll have given it a chance.

For anyone interested in a more eloquent piece saying basically the same thing I just said, see today's op-ed in the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/opinion/01mubarak.html?hp/