Jordan Times,
THE SUDDEN flurry of statements on resuming peace negotiations between Israel and Syria reflects the intense pressures that all sides feel and suffer in the current Arab-Israeli stalemate. Palestinian-Israeli talks, though, are going nowhere. Many factors seem to be pushing for change and progress on wider Middle Eastern issues, but other, equally powerful, factors appear likely to perpetuate deadlock and low intensity warfare on the Israeli-Palestinian front. If the Palestine-Israel conflict becomes more formally detached from events in the surrounding region, Palestinians and Israelis run the risk of drifting towards more extreme positions and violent actions against each other but also against third parties, as has happened before.
The forces for change within the Middle East region are numerous. The strongest is the untenable demographic pressure of high population growth rates and masses of educated but unskilled young people, which threatens social stability, health conditions and basic resources, such as water and arable land. Erratic economic growth is forcing change in many countries, as is the recognition of the benefits of participatory and accountable democratic governance systems.
Pressure from outside is also a factor
