Giving rise to fresh hopes of lasting peace, the Israeli and Palestinian teams on Tuesday consented to work out a peace deal within nine months from now, thereby expressing their willingness to put an end to the six-decade conflict.

The first direct talks between Israel and Palestine in three years, in Washington on Monday and Tuesday, have been described as “constructive and positive” by US Secretary of State, John Kerry, who brokered the peace negotiations. However, political analysts, and foreign policy experts, in particular, prefer to keep their fingers crossed, saying the peace talks, though a diplomatic success for Kerry, don’t hold out a lot of promise.

Optimistic

Kerry, who was briefing reporters on the outcome of the meetings, sounded optimistic when he said that there was every possibility for peace to return to the strife-torn Middle East, notwithstanding the several stumbling blocks. Not prepared to share the skepticism, Kerry said all the so-called final-status issues to resolve the deadlock were taken up for discussion. Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat were also present during the briefing. Making it clear that the responsibility of finding a lasting solution to the crisis can’t be passed on to the next generation, Kerry said efforts must be taken to ensure that such a situation was not created. “We cannot pass along to another generation the responsibility of ending a conflict that is in our power to resolve in our time”, he said.

The main objective of the talks, which will enter the second round in Mid-August, is to hammer out a final status agreement during the next nine months, Kerry said, adding Israel had consented to initiate any number of steps to ensure safety to Palestinians living in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. While the West Bank is controlled by a Palestinian authority led by the Fatah faction of Abbas, it’s the Islamist Hamas group that is in power in the Gaza Strip.

Focus on Economic Growth

A senior US official later told reporters that in addition to clearing the roadblocks, both the teams remained focused on enhancing economic growth. Noting that utmost secrecy would be maintained on what transpired during the discussions, US officials, who were not inclined to give more details on the peace talks, said it could not be confirmed if they would participate in the proposed negotiations within a fortnight in Israel or Palestine.

What the US, which has taken the lead to work out a peaceful solution to the vexing issue, is looking for is to make both the sides to agree to a deal whereby Israel would live in peace alongside a new Palestinian state that’s situated in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The future of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the status of Jerusalem, the fate of Palestinian refugees and the borders were among the major issues that need immediate attention for a peaceful settlement. It may be recalled that the earlier talks involving Israel and Palestine failed to yield the desired results and broke half way through in 2010 after Israel began constructing Jewish settlements in the West Bank.