A peace process occurs between nations transferring them from a state of war between enemies to a state of peace between partners. A successful peace process requires a shift of attitudes in a cross section of the society and must be built between the peoples. This lengthy process also requires formal education that should take place through the educational system.

One of the most amazing things about the Oslo peace process is that since the creation of the Palestinian Authority in 1994, the ministers of education of Israel and the PA have never met. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will meet with President Mahmoud Abbas. Defense Minister Ehud Barak will continue to meet with PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad. Other Israeli and PA ministers will continue to meet, but the ministers of education – no meetings will take place between them.

Is the new government on a collision course with the US? It would seem so. President Barack Obama and his secretary of state have let Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu know in no uncertain terms that the two-states-for-two-peoples solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the only plan on the table.

On May 2, Gershon Baskin will begin his US speaking tour in Los Angeles. There is no program set yet and this is a call to friends of IPCRI all over to assist in setting up a program. Gershon is prepared to travel anywhere in the States that will be worthwhile financially. This is a tour to raise money for supporting the work of IPCRI in advancing the “two-states for two peoples” solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Welcome Prime Minister Netanyahu. Your recent statements indicating your intention to be a true partner to the Palestinians in advancing peace through negotiations is what the international community wants to hear. But more than wanting to hear positive statements on your intentions to make peace, the international community want to see progress on the ground.

A Canadian-funded Israeli-Palestinian think tank held a public event Monday against the construction of the Museum of Tolerance at its planned central Jerusalem site, despite a High Court ruling allowing it to be built there.

The event, organized by the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information, came five months after construction resumed at the site, which partially covers a Muslim cemetery, in keeping with last year’s unanimous ruling.

The two-hour discussion, which was held at an east Jerusalem hotel and included a four-member panel that opposed the construction, was part of an afternoon discussion series “made possible by the support of the government of Canada,” according to an e-mail the organization sent out.

There are those who want and can’t, those who don’t want and can, those who don’t want and can’t, and there are those who want and can. Mahmoud Abbas has been one of those who wanted and couldn’t, as was Ehud Olmert. Binyamin Netanyahu is probably one who doesn’t want but can. A Palestinian national unity government, should it come to life, will also be one that doesn’t want but could. The Obama administration is definitely one that wants and can, but what will it do in the face of those in the Middle East who so clearly don’t want?

Israel’s prime ministers are judged by their performance on issues of peace and security. On these issues, Ehud Olmert was one of the worst prime ministers in Israel’s history. Ironically, this statement, as harsh as it is, probably finds great deal of consensus across Israel’s divergent political map. Each part of the political map in Israel has its own reasons for giving Olmert such low grades. I will focus on mine.