The recent escalation in the Middle East is a constant reminder that the overdue normalization between Israel and Arab states will not also resolve the conflict between the State of Israel and the Palestinians.
The latest round of violence again contains the factors why the conflict will continue to flare up in the future.
On the one hand, there are regional tensions.
Iran supports and fuels Palestinian 'Islamic Jihad', which has been at the center of recent violence by firing rockets at Jerusalem;
he maintains his political office in Damascus.
Tensions will continue to ebb in the future
When Israel exercises its right to self-defense, civilians are also affected.
For example, the only power plant in Gaza cannot produce electricity because of an Israeli blockade.
Egypt is the third factor that can be relied on.
Whenever tensions erupt between Israel and the Palestinians, only Cairo is able to mediate and de-escalate.
But as long as nothing changes in the other factors - the influence of external actors and the precarious living conditions of the Palestinians, but also the inability of the Palestinians themselves to set up efficient self-government - the tensions will repeatedly escalate into violence unloaded.
One glimmer of hope this weekend was that Hamas has not (yet?) joined the violence of the even more radical "Islamic Jihad."