The talks began in the wake of the killing of four Israeli settlers in Hebron on Tuesday by the militant group Hamas, which has opposed direct peace talks. In response to the shooting, a right-wing Israeli group has unilaterally started new building work in the occupied West Bank.

Daniel Pollak, the co-director for government relations with the Zionist Organization of America argued that Hamas has no place in the peace talks, because the group teaches violence, not peace. Whereas Yousef Munayyer, the executive director of the Palestine Center said that all players should be included.

“In a word, Hamas is claiming responsibility for the terrorist attack that killed four unarmed civilians yesterday and including them in the peace talks would make peace no more likely. But, unfortunately this entire affair is destined to come down to how much the Palestinians want peace at all and the news there is very bad,” said Pollak.

Munayyer argued that the chances are slim a deal will be reached in the next your. The process, he argued, simply does not allow for a swift solution.

“We are no longer in the pre-2006 era before the election that Hamas won and came into power. Since that time we’ve had this major question of legitimacy within the Palestinian domestic political arena and we can’t go about talking about peace the same way we did before that area if we can’t bring everybody into the discussion,” said Munayyer.

Pollak argued that they would be a determent, since they are not a partner for peace but instead have called for the killing of all Jews.

Munayyer pointed out that on the Israeli side there are a number of people who are violent and refuse to acknowledge Palestinian rights; some even calling for genocide.