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his is the best of times and the worst of times for the Arab-Israeli peacemaking efforts, a pro-peace Israeli lawyer, Daniel Seidemann, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday. Should the world fail to put an end to the conflict, he warned, it may lose its only chance of achieve lasting peace in the region.

"There is this settlement surge that jeopardizes the two-state solution, and *there is* this radicalization of Israeli policies in the most sensitive areas of the conflict: The area around the Old City, Haram Sharif, and the historic places surrounding it," he said after speaking at the UN Asian and Pacific Meeting on the Question of Palestine in Jakarta.

"On the other hand," he added, "there is a renewed energy, a willingness to engage Israel to put a stop to this policy and. for the first time in eight years we are seeing the emergence of a political platform necessary to solve the conflict.

"We have a huge opportunity and a great danger."

The United States under President Barack Obama has put pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a two-state solution to the conflicts with the Palestinians, which require the Jewish nation to freeze settlement expansion and remove outposts.

Encouraged by Obama's peace drive, the UN, along with Russia and the European Union, is calling on Israel to change their policies in order to achieve peace in the Middle East, stressing the urgency of accomplishing a two-state solution.

Israel, however, remains defiant.

"If we continue with this kind of situation, even if we succeed, even if Barack Obama succeeds in bringing the government of Israel to say *yes' to a two-state solution but has not yet implemented their obligations, and continue building new settlements and isolating Gaza. we should not expect anything other than failure," the United Nation's permanent observer to Palestine Riyad Mansour told reporters.

"What we need, which is a challenge to all of us and also to Barack Obama, is the political will to bring Israel to compliance."

The reason why the Annapolis peace agreement failed, he said, was because nobody did anything to make Israel abide by their obligations.

"We need to change their conduct, or things will move to a very dangerous direction," he said, adding the international community should start taking practical action, rather than other condemnations against Israel.

The Foreign Ministry's director for International Security and Disarmament, Desra Percaya, stressed the importance of evaluating previous Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.

"We should learn from past failure; and certainly must not allow them to recur."

Many parties are putting their hopes on Obama, but skepticism remains whether the first black US president will be able to bring peace in the holy land.