I was in Tiberias this Saturday night, walking along the edge of the Sea of Galilee. As I strolled down to the sea front, past the Scottish Hotel, owned by the Church of Scotland, the crowds were deafening. Jews mixed with Druze, who mixed with Moslems, along with the foreign tourists. All were customers and waiters at the multitude of restaurants on the thriving promenade.

And while thousands of Israelis were partying, American Secretary of State, John Kerry, was on the warpath. He is pulling out all the stops to reignite peace talks – at least, talks about talks – between Israelis and Palestinians.

Depending on whose spin you believe: Either the Israelis are not serious, because they keep building or enlarging so-called settlements. Or the Palestinians have shown less than a minimalistic level of commitment by bombing tourists in Eilat. UN experts have shown revealed their position by criticising Israel for its supposed harassment of a Palestinian human rights’ activist.

All this comes on a day, when Israel released 26 Palestinian prisoners, as a gesture of good will. Judging from the record of the former inmates, Israel was forced into this move by Kerry. Tom Gross, an experienced journalist covering the region, has noted that:

• Abu-Musa Salam Ali Atia of Fatah  hacked to death  Holocaust survivor, using an axe in broad daylight.
• Ra’ai Ibrahim Salam Ali of Fatah killed a pensioner by axe blows to the head while he sat on a public bench reading a book.
• Two of the prisoners, Abu Satta Ahmad Sa’id Aladdin and Abu Sita Talab Mahmad Ayman, were imprisoned in 1994 for the murder of David Dadi and Haim Weizman. They killed Dadi and Weizman as they slept in Weizman’s apartment, and then cut off their ears as trophies.

And so the list goes on. You have to ask. Why would Palestinian President Abbas want such people released into his society? Why give them a heroes welcome? And why has there been no reciprocal move to show to Israelis and the peace brokers how serious the Palestinians are about peace?

What the process is showing is that while Israel, and specifically her Prime Minister Netanyahu, are not liked by parts of the international diplomatic community, their complaints do not stand up to realities on the ground. It is not just that citizens of different religions mix freely on the streets in the Holy Land, Israel goes out of its way to help others. For example, dozens of Syrians have now been treated in Israeli hospitals as a result of fighting on their own soil.

In contrast, as Palestinian journalist Abu Toameh records, “while Palestinians are being slaughtered and forced out of their homes in Syria, the Lebanese government is preventing them from entering Lebanon.” And in Gaza, the planned executions of named traitors has even attracted the disgust of the British government, as well as the UN and Amnesty International.

There are no simple paths along the journey towards peace. This was best illustrated by a recent and amazingly frank appraisal by an outgoing member of the Spokesperson’s Unit of the Israeli army.

However, I would like to take one step further what the Wall Street Journal wrote. “What does it say about a prospective state of Palestine that among its heroes is Salah Ibrahim Ahmad Mugdad?“, who beat a 72 year old security guard to death with a steel rod. When Abbas and co are prepared to find a new type of hero, one that Israeli society can relate to, than Kerry’s efforts will have a far deeper meaning.