Do you think a cease-fire can bring lasting peace, or is it just a temporary pause in the cycle of violence?

I do not. I think the Israeli -palestinean conflict isn't a national conflict, but rather deeply rooted in religious conflict. I have learned a lot about both Judaism and islam and to me it looks like as a result of the way the Korans text is tied directly to human behaviour in a fundamentalist way (which in certain contexts in my eyes is a beautiful model for human behaviour and dedication to a higher cause) , and in the context of specific issues (jihad for example) it creates problems and turns into violent. The best case scenario in my eyes is ifin the process of it evolving, islam…  Read more developes a mechanism that can able the follower to create separation to a certain degree between the text and the way the expression of the text in reality. The reason I believe that the conflict is religious, at least from the Palestinian side, is that hamas publicly declared that it's main objective is retrieving control over Al aqsa (religious cause) (which is currently co-controlled by Israel and Jordan in partnership) and the war of the jihad against all Jews (again, religious cause)