A baby step was taken in the right direction last week in the never-ending peace attempts between Israel and Palestine. Ariel Sharon pushed a Gaza pullout plan through the Israeli parliament on Oct. 26. Although it’s an important move, don’t hold your breath for peace in the Middle East.

First, let’s talk about the good news. The 8,000 Israeli settlers in Gaza are small in number, but they have huge implications. The pullout represents the first time Israel has vacated the settlements it captured in 1967. The last time Israel left Jewish settlements was in 1982, after the historic peace agreement with Egypt.

The second piece of good news is that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has no role in this agreement, thanks to Bush’s resolve to not associate with him. He was behind many failed attempts at peace in the 90s. He turned down Bill Clinton’s peace offer because of his insistence on having the Gaza Strip and the West Bank; allowing a return to pre-1967 borders, and in letting hundreds of thousands of refugees to return to their homes. Then, a few years later at Camp David, he gave up on the monopoly of force within Palestine, paving the way for Hamas activity.

If Israel used the pullout as a stepping stone for peace with Palestine, other Arab countries would offer conditional peace agreements. Two years ago, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Abdullah said the country would normalize relations with Israel in case peace prevails. The stipulations for this peace were Israel’s withdrawal to pre-1967 lines (before the Six-Day War) and the creation of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

Now here’s the bad news: The conditions for this peace will be enormously hard to meet, because the Gaza pullout doesn’t assure anything. First, there’s no guarantee that the settlers will willingly leave their homes. They could forcibly resist efforts to move them.

Even if there’s no conflict in the pullout, it doesn’t mean that the Gaza Strip has any more political autonomy. All border crossings that connect the Gaza Strip to the outside world are still under Israel’s control; airspace, sea ports and the movement of goods are all under tight restrictions.

In addition, the pullout doesn’t address 200,000 Israeli settlers situated in the Gaza Strip, which is another area that must see resolution if any peace initiative is to take place. Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas said all the Israelis are offering is “a prison surrounded by a buffer zone, with the keys in their hands and no West Bank,” according to the Economist.

Israel took a baby step in the right direction. But there are still monstrous obstacles in the road. Unless Israel makes big changes in its dealings with Palestine, the status quo will likely be perpetuated for decades.