By David Harris

The Israelis and Palestinians are at a key point in their relations: they can have a true, lasting peace or else take the road to self destruction, Ron Pundak, one of the key architects of the original 1993 peace accord between the two Middle-Eastern neighbors warned Tuesday.

The options on the table are "to march towards peace, regional cooperation and prosperity," or "to move in the direction that we are moving now, a devastating direction," Pundak told an international gathering of academics at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

The real Zionists are those who believe in an Israeli state next to a state of Palestine, with eastern Jerusalem as its capital and its territory to include the West Bank, currently occupied by Israel, said Pundak, who now heads the Peres Center for Peace.

"I know what you want, you know what I want. It's time for decisions now," added leading Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, with a sense of urgency in his voice.

The peace camp on either side of the Israeli-Palestinian divide is convinced there is a now-or-never moment of opportunity, said Erekat.

Publicly, the Palestinians were highly critical of the June 14 speech by the Israeli Prime Minister, saying Benjamin Netanyahu was setting preconditions for talks with the Palestinians. These terms were flatly rejected by Palestinian leaders.

"He spent 42 minutes of a speech conditioning me, and in the 43rd minute he tells me to negotiate without preconditions," said Erekat.

Among the terms laid down by the Netanyahu government are a Palestinian recognition of Israel as the Jewish state, the future Palestinian state being fully demilitarized, no right of return to Israel for Palestinian refugees, and that there will be no dismantling of the major Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank.

The Israelis and Palestinians have been rather good at talking in secret without leaks, Erekat said, referring to several years of conversations that have led to understandings between the parties.

"They don't need negotiators anymore, they need decision makers," he said, speaking of both sides. The parties know what one another desires and it is up to Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to make it happen.

Netanyahu came a long way in saying he is prepared to recognize a Palestinian state, but he still has a long way to go, according to the European Union. The European Council, which represents the 27 member states, has drawn up a nine-point document explaining its stance on the peace process and what needs to be done to push the parties forwards.

Among its key recommendations, the EU says all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions must be implemented. Europe also views favorably the Arab peace initiative, which calls for a full Israeli withdrawal from all the territories it gained in the 1967 War in exchange for full recognition of Israel by all Arab states.

First and foremost Israel must "commit unequivocally to the two-state solution," said EU Ambassador to Israel Ramiro Cibrian Uzal.

In terms of immediate actions to put the process back on track, Brussels wants to see an immediate cessation of all settlement activity, including what Israel describes as "natural growth."

Netanyahu has agreed to a ban on all land expropriations and the dismantling of illegal outposts, but insists existing Israeli settlements have the right to expand to account for their increasing population.

Such ideas are an anathema to Pundak, Erekat and Cibrian Uzal. "We are already walking in the path of destruction, of mutual annihilation," Pundak told the audience.

Yet the Israeli and Palestinian speakers stressed the negativity is emanating from political leaders rather than the people. The majority of Israeli and Palestinians are committed to the same basic ideas for a peace agreement and the establishment of a Palestinian state, they said.

"For today's peacemakers the question is how to start the process, at least the one that will be made public. Do the parties first agree to territorial compromise, including most thorny of subjects? Or do they put those core elements aside and just begin talking. "

For the EU, the United States and the Palestinians, the first steps seemingly will have to come from Israel, but Netanyahu maintains that his June 14 address was that first move and he says the ball is very much in the Palestinian court.

It is this type of basic disagreement that Pundak fears will take the sides further apart than ever and lead to self-destruction.

(Xinhua News Agency July 1, 2009)