“You say that it all depends on the Israeli side,” Yossi Beilin wrote in an appeal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Haaretz (“Dear Abbas, answer Kerry, and establish a Palestinian state now,” May 3), “but the one who can lead the decision toward [a two-state] solution more than anybody else is you, Mr. President.”

Beilin asks Abbas to accept the parameters that United States Secretary of State John Kerry proposed in March 2014 and “declare your readiness” to negotiate the implementation of the second stage of the Bush road map that will lead to a Palestinian state within provisional borders.

These are very profound words from someone who was identified for so many years with the faith that the other side was ready to end the conflict. Even when others had given up hope, Beilin kept insisting that there is a partner, and that if we will it, it is no dream. However, now he, too, says that for the moment it does not depend solely on us, even if we want it. I do not see another way of interpreting his plea other than as determining that if Abbas does not change his positions, we have no partner for a permanent solution.

Read the full article at Haaretz.