“This is as intractable a problem as you get,” he admitted after a wasted year of more error than trial. He naively ignored the harsh lessons of 20 years of abortive peacemaking, and insisted on sticking to the worn-out paradigm of direct negotiations between parties that, when left to their own devices, are bound to come to a deadlock.
萧伯纳曾根据自己的观察得出结论“在和平这项艺术中人类的行为都是笨手笨脚的。”奥巴马刚刚在以巴和平进程中承认，总统也可能是笨手笨脚的。“这是你所能遇到的最棘手的问题，”他在浪费了一年时间，犯了无数错误后承认。他天真地无视 20 年来和平流产的严酷教训，坚持走各方直接谈判的过时道路，当被容许自行其是时，冲突各方注定会陷入僵局而无法自拔。他虚心地承认“把期望值定得太高”是自己的错误，这种谦虚的态度是值得表扬的。