article_snippet: (CNN)The Palestinian issue dominates international news coverage of Israel, with images of missiles, terror tunnels and failed peace negotiations frequently splashed across TV screens and newspapers.
article_snippet: However, for some time now, the majority of Israelis have shared a consensual position on the Palestinian question.
article_snippet: In principle, the majority of Israelis continue to favor a two-state solution and the majority of Israelis are prepared to make extensive compromises in exchange for genuine peace -- greater concessions than in the 1990s at the height of the peace process.
article_snippet: However, in practice, the majority of Israelis believes that even if an Israeli government were to agree to more compromises than an Israeli government view as acceptable, Israel would still not obtain the minimum required in terms of peace and security to make the deal worthwhile.
article_snippet: Experience has certainly taught Israel Israel to be deeply skeptical of the possibility of peace with the Palestinians, irrespective of the complexion of an Israeli government.
article_snippet: In 2000, for example, a Labor-led government agreed to a Palestinian state in all of Gaza, 97% of the West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem, including the holiest site in Judaism, the Temple Mount.
article_snippet: Yet not only did Yasser Arafat reject the deal, but the Palestinians launched an unprecedented wave of suicide bombings against Israeli civilians.
article_snippet: Add in the fact that subsequent unilateral Israeli withdrawals from south Lebanon and Gaza resulted in tens of thousands of rockets being launched at Israeli civilians, and the 2008 decision by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to reject Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's peace proposal -- a plan similar to the Clinton parameters that Yasser Arafat rejected in 2000 -- and Israeli wariness is easy to understand.
article_snippet: Since then, leaks from the recent round of peace talks have only served to strengthen the Israeli public's skepticism -- the Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu was reportedly prepared to accept a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, only for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to refuse to engage positively with a wide-ranging American peace outline including this element, according to Israel's Channel 2, even when the Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu was presented with it directly by President Obama himself.
article_snippet: In keeping with the mood of the public, the ex-Likudnik presents a moderate image on the Palestinian issue and has appeared to try to steer away from discussing issues of peace and security.
article_snippet: In fact, one senior Israeli official told me that Kahlon's team has been advised against even mentioning the word "peace" for the rest of the campaign.