President Barack Obama has come to the realisation that he misjudged the will for peace among the Palestinians and the Israelis.
This should not come as a surprise, since neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis really want peace. So why would the US want it more than they?
Why don't the two sides want peace?
The Israelis don't want it because that would mean that the country would have to contend with mounting domestic issues, such as the relationship between religion and the state, the growing gap between rich and poor - one of the widest in the developed world -- and the absolutely atrocious level of education. Add to all that the social upheaval and probable violent unrest that the return of 350,000 colonists would cause.
The Palestinians don't want peace because that would mean having to deal with day-to-day issues such as education, transport, employment, welfare, health etc. They also know that if they hold tight, or sumoud as they call it, then Israel will have to give them equal rights to the Jews.
Butn there is one overriding motive that unites both sides: they'd have to give up playing the victim.