As negotiations commence in Washington, the media are filled with speculation and predictions, mostly pessimistic.  Here are a couple of articles that stand back a bit from the present and examine the larger context that makes a peace deal both so challenging and so essential:

From The New Republic: Ben Birnbaum on what a peace deal will look like..

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/114074/john-kerry-israel-palestine-peace-talks-keys-deal?utm_campaign=tnr-daily-newsletter&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=9791046

From the New York Review of Books: Nathan Thrall, “What Future for Israel?”

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/aug/15/what-future-israel/