One of the encouraging events in the Obama administration’s efforts to revive the Middle East peace process occurred last week with almost no coverage in the western media. (The story is here and here) Following the meeting in Jerusalem between Netanyahu and Abbas, US envoy George Mitchell left for Lebanon and Syria to discuss the status of the negotiations.
Over past decades various US and regional actors have tried, in vain, to solve the ongoing puzzle of the Arab/Israeli conflict. These efforts have been thwarted by the fact there have been two pieces missing. The focus has always been on bilateral discussions between Israel and the Palestinians mediated by the US. All parties have ignored the part that must be played by Lebanon and Syria in achieving any comprehensive and lasting solution. Each of these countries has a significant role to play in resolving two of the most difficult issues, right of return for refugees and water.
Overall, there are close to 5mm Palestinian refugees from the 1948 and 1967 conflicts and their descendants residing in various countries within and outside of the region. Of these over 400,000 live in Lebanon, a country of 4mm people. These people have been housed in refugee camps in Lebanon which have among the worst living conditions that I have seen and have been denied the 
most basic opportunities to earn a living and provide for their families. My conversations with Lebanese of all political parties indicate to me that there is no political will for absorbing this population. (This would be the demographic equivalent of the US absorbing 30mm Iraqi refugees.) Any workable solution to the refugee situation must take into consideration the Lebanese point of view.
Control of water resources has always been a major part of Israeli settlement and occupation policies. Settlements in the West Bank have been built on strategic hilltops in order to insure Israeli 
control of access to the aquifer. Resolution of the conflict between Israel and Syria over the Golan Heights has been thwarted by Israeli insistence in retaining control over the headwaters of the Jordan River. Israel, along with Jordan and Syria have used so much of this resource that, by the time the Jordan reaches the Dead Sea, it has been transformed from a crystal clear mountain stream into a polluted ditch. No 
solution to the issue of fair water access for all is possible without a major role for Syria.
Previous efforts to ignore these issues during peace negotiations cannot be continued if there is to be any resolution. I don’t know what was discussed in Beirut and Damascus, but hopefully refugees and water came up.
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