Middle East at a crossroads

The latest escalation in Jerusalem should make it apparent that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict cannot be pursued through violence for even another day. This goes for both sides. Moreover, the attack on a synagogue, of all places, raises fears that it will become utterly impossible to resolve the political and territorial problems if everything is overshadowed by religious conflict.

The murders in the synagogue in the Har Nof quarter of Jerusalem were brutal and senseless. Palestinian groups such as Hamas have tried to glorify these killings by describing them as part of the fight against the Israeli occupation. This is inconceivable. Murder "has no place in human behavior," said US Secretary of State John Kerry - and he's right.

Calls for revenge on both sides

The statements justifying the attack simply go to show how brutal and dehumanized the conflict in the Middle East has become. Calls by right-wing Jewish Israelis for revenge and collective punishment for the Palestinians are further evidence of this.

None of it will do anything to calm the current situation. In this heated atmosphere, politics bears the greatest responsibility - but politics is failing. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blames the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for the attack, accusing him of stirring up hatred of Israel and encouraging people to carry out attacks with calls for a "day of rage." Economy Minister Naftali Bennet even described Abbas as one of the biggest Palestinian terrorists. All this is part of a domestic battle for the right-wing vote.

These accusations don't even correspond to the Israeli assessment of reality. The head of the Israeli intelligence agency Shin Bet has urged circumspection, contradicting his political leaders by saying that Abbas was not inciting terrorism. The Palestinian president has condemned the Jerusalem attack and made a second statement declaring his opposition to murders of civilians in general, regardless of who commits them.

But Abbas too needs to ask himself whether the call to defend the Al-Aqsa Mosque at all costs is likely to calm the situation. Is the president truly worried that Israel's hardline government might divide up the holy site again? Or did Abbas want to see Netanyahu going begging to Jordan on his knees?

Both Netanyahu and Abbas under pressure

On both sides, domestic pressure seems to be dictating daily business. The political power to do more is simply not there. The Israeli leader has burnt all his bridges, both with the Palestinians and with his allies. There are no threads of political dialogue he can pick up, however much Kerry hopes this might be possible. And the Palestinian president is struggling to wrest control from Hamas, which dominates the Gaza Strip, before younger, more radical forces try to seize power from him.

Essentially, Israelis and Palestinians have one common interest: to live in security. This is a goal the two sides can only achieve together - through compromise. At present the path they are heading down is taking them in a completely different direction. Only politics can prevent things deteriorating even further.