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nited States President Barack Obama has concluded his much-anticipated trip to the Middle East. Effectively making fresh calls for Israel and Palestine to resume their stalled peace talks, Obama has revitalized the campaign to establish long-lasting peace and stability in the region.

Obama’s three-day stay in the region, including his first official visit to Israel, has generated a mixed response. Met with an effusive welcome in Israel and protests in Ramallah on the West Bank, the US president has persuaded both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to return to the negotiation table. Most importantly, the two leaders have stated their commitment to a two-state solution for the two peoples, believed in many quarters to be the best mechanism for the settlement of their dispute.

Peace talks between Israel and Palestine — brokered by the United States — ground to a halt in 2010 in a dispute over Israeli settlement-building in the occupied West Bank. While renewed peace talks are apparently imminent, it is very unlikely that a complete end to the dispute will be achieved in the near future.

It is obvious that the failure to advance the cause of peace — let alone to reach a peace agreement between the two peoples — is due to gross mistakes on both sides.

A key obstacle to any peace settlement is the continuing expansion of Jewish settlements on Palestinian land. While Israeli leaders, represented by Netanyahu, have repeatedly expressed their commitment to the two-state solution, the building goes on.

The two-state solution was recently put to the test. Leader of right-wing party The Jewish Home, Naftali Bennett is at the forefront of the campaign for a one-state solution with his “no-state-for-the-Palestinians” rhetoric.

Another obstacle is the Palestinians themselves, who are unable to take a united stance on their future. They are effectively divided into three groups — two-state pragmatists, one-state belligerents and one-state idealists. It is of prime importance that Palestinians settle their own differences first. Only then can they proceed effectively into further peace talks with the Israelis.

Apart from both sides’ commitment to the two-state solution, a comprehensive resolution of the disputes can only begin when the two adversaries begin to exercise restraint among themselves. Palestinians, particularly Hamas, must discontinue their hostile aggression against the Israelis. Israelis, for their part, must discontinue the expansion of the Jewish settlements and stop oppressing the Palestinians.

There is increasing support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel in the United States and the United Kingdom. Any defiant stance by the Israelis, will only add to the clamour of anti-Israel voices, not only in those two countries, but worldwide.