Israel and Palestine issue on near-term horizon

The United Nations has said the Palestinian Authority is ready to govern its own country. The Palestinian Authority wants to complete its “state-building program” by September in order to pressure the international community to recognize a Palestinian state on all the territory occupied by Israel since 1967—including Gaza. However, Hamas, which governs Gaza, rejects any peace deal that recognizes Israel. The UN wants Israel to restart peace negotiations, which have stalled. Most governments oppose any “unilateral” attempt by the Palestinians to declare statehood. How this will shake out is not clear, but the odds of a Palestinian state being established this year are (at least in my view) pretty low.