The new American administration offers a window of opportunity to solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The United States and the European Union will hold a prominent position in the negotiations, but they must draw the lessons of past failures. Mediators must be active, international control mechanisms have to be implemented, the living conditions of Palestinians need to be quickly enhanced, and Hamas has to be allowed to govern, otherwise the Middle East peace-making process will be once more hampered.

Patrick Müller is a Transatlantic Fellow (TAPIR) attached to the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP), to Institut français des relations internationales (Ifri) and to the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS). His research focuses on European foreign policy, the conflicts and the peace process in the Middle East and euro-Mediterranean relations. Translated from the English by Thomas Richard.

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