• How significant is Thursday’s attack?

The attack last week, when a Palestinian gunman shot dead eight people at the Mercaz Harav seminary before killing himself, was the deadliest in Jerusalem since April 2006. It could affect the peace process that the US—with the backing of Israel, Britain and the international community—launched last November in Annapolis.

• Has the peace process stalled?

Palestinian President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas has, for the moment, suspended communications with Israel although the Israeli government insists that it will persist with the peace talks despite Thursday’s attack in Jerusalem. However, the talks cannot succeed without getting the Hamas on board and the group is determined to see the talks fail. Although the Israeli government initially said that talks would not be derailed, the mood in Israel could change fast. Now it will be almost impossible for the Israeli leadership to sit down with any Palestinian leader, no matter how moderate. Though Abbas condemned the attack, the Hamas in Gaza celebrated the incident as a “natural reaction” to Israel’s military offensive in Gaza that began on March 1.

• What was the objective of the Annapolis meet on November 27, 2007?

To implement the two-state solution and create a Palestinian state next to Israel. The aim was to reach an agreement before the expiry of George W. Bush’s term in late 2008. The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had been meeting since June 2007 to prepare the groundwork for Annnapolis.

• What were the salient features of the Annapolis talks?

Annapolis marked a departure from earlier peace conferences involving West Asia. It was the first time that both the Israelis and the Palestinians had begun peace talks with a prior understanding that peace must result in a Palestinian state. It was also after decades that the UN and the EU fully backed the US effort without questioning Israel. Two other highlights of the conference were the fact that the Palestinians spoke for themselves for the first time, instead of being a part of a larger Arab delegation and the fact that Syria’s participation indicated a recognition on its part of the progress made by Israel and the Palestinians.

• When did the present crisis begin?

In February, when Hamas rockets targeted Israeli towns along the Gaza border and Israel retaliated. However, the conflict intensified with an increase in the rocket attacks against Israel and a major Israeli military offensive on March 1 that left about 120 Palestinians dead, some of them children.

• How bad is the situation in Gaza?

In January 2008, the Hamas aided the breach of the steel reinforcements along the Gaza-Egypt border and Palestinians poured into Egypt for provisions. Behind this desperation lay the Israeli blockade on Gaza that has caused the worst humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip in 40 years, as claimed by human rights groups led by Amnesty International. Despite the Israeli pullout of 2005, its significance in Israeli-Palestinian relations did not diminish. In fact, there is a possibility of Israel re-occupying Gaza in the present context. In June 2007, when the Palestinian civil war intensified, the Hamas threw the Fatah out of Gaza and has controlled the territory militarily since.