Public apathy may help Israeli-Palestinian peace
President Mahmoud Abbas' public concessions to Israel have not stirred grumblings on the Palestinian street, perhaps pointing to an opening to strike a deal.
Palestinian and Israeli negotiators might have stumbled across two powerful weapons that could help them convince their publics to support a compromise peace agreement — political exhaustion and apathy.
While the issues surrounding the peace talks, such as refugees and Jerusalem, are emotional triggers that easily move public opinion, the parties to the decades-old conflict appear to be slogging through a period of political fatigue. Hot button items that would usually bring crowds into the streets and force politicians to backtrack are not producing these effects.
On the Israeli side, the public is enjoying an unprecedented calm in terms of security, and an economic boom has made many Israelis seeming apathetic to the comings and goings of politicians and negotiators. On the Palestinian side, the continued occupation and colonization of Palestinian lands, coupled with the implosion of major Arab countries, seem to have had a discouraging effect on the public mood.
The reaction to the conciliatory speech by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to a group of 300 Israeli students on Feb. 16 is a perfect example of how this exhaustion is playing out. A review of media reactions and interviews with opinion makers illustrates this point.
