The deadly ambush of Israeli civilians has triggered the predicable observation that these are desperate attempts to kill the "peace process." Defense Minister Barak said, "This is an attempt by vile terrorist to hurt efforts to jump start the peace process and try to hurt the chances of the direct talks opening in Washington,"

Meanwhile an aid to the Prime Minister said that the murderers will be hunted and the peace talks will go on as scheduled.

Does Barak or this unidentified aid believe there is any prospect for peace talks that will end the conflict?

If they do then Israel is in real trouble.  No one who objectively looks at the facts can conclude that these talks are nothing more than political theater. There is probably a lot of truth to the theory that President Obama is turning his attention to foreign policy because he has been such a failure on the domestic scene.

There is no prospect that these talks will lead to lasting peace. We can cite many reasons why this is the case but lets just mention one. The Palestinian Authority controls less of the territory than Hamas and Hamas is not at the talks.

These photo-op talks are not for Israel because they involve Israel in a process that is based on lies and every so often it leads to the death of innocents. The process itself is deadly for the State and people of Israel.