Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, last week held a meeting with US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton that lasted 7 hours. The meeting resulted in the formulation of a plan to revive talks in the Mideast that was tabled before the Israeli Cabinet on Sunday. The plan is based on the assumption that Israel and Palestine will draft and agree on a border between them in the West Bank within a period of three months.

However, three months is being deemed as a short time to accomplish what decades of spontaneous talks between the two countries have failed to. This situation is aggravated by the fact that the Netanyahu and Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas have wider polarities than any other two leaders during attempts to settle the situation.

Negotiations stalled three weeks ago over Israel’s settlement expansion on land that was won during war. This deal, dubbed a ‘border deal’ will seek to demarcate boundaries so that Israel can continue building homes peacefully for Jews. It involves getting Israel to agree to a ban on housing in West Bank Settlements, though not east Jerusalem, a place where Palestine hopes to build its capital. The deal is also deemed to be risky as Palestine continues to reiterate that they will not negotiate in the absence of a settlement curb.

On the other hand, the US administration is confident that the deal is the best way to keep Palestinians invested in the Mideast talks.

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