Be realistic

Before everybody gets giddy with excitement, the agreement reached today between the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority is much fanfare about nothing. Agreeing to talk after decades of animosity and violence is better than nothing, but it will not and cannot resolve anything by itself. "We agree to immediately launch good-faith bilateral negotiations in order to conclude a peace treaty resolving all outstanding issues, including all core issues without exception, as specified in previous agreements," the joint statement by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Ohlmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said. But these issues are intractable, and it will take far longer than one year to make any meaningful progress.