With coalition-haggling just getting underway, it may be days or weeks before the shape of Israel’s next government becomes clear. But one thing is already obvious: Peace with the Palestinians won’t be its priority. The U.S. and its partners shouldn’t let it become an afterthought.

Ahead of last month's record-setting election, support for a two-state solution had collapsed among Jewish Israelis. The Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, left indelible wounds and convinced many they could never feel safe living next to a Palestinian-controlled state. Indeed, the idea is so unpopular that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition partly based its campaign on telling voters their only choice was “the Right, or Palestine.” Support for a two-state solution remains higher among Palestinians, but Israel’s assault on Gaza and settler attacks in the West Bank have cemented the belief that Israel will never let one emerge.

This bleak status quo threatens Israelis as much as Palestinians. Netanyahu’s hard-line approach has isolated the country not just from Arab and European nations but from large constituencies in the U.S. as well. Tolerance of settler violence in the West Bank is undermining military discipline and the rule of law. Withholding humanitarian assistance in Gaza has further diminished Israel’s claims on the world’s sympathy. Meanwhile, rejecting efforts to resume the peace process drives a wedge between Israel and its few Arab friends, making it impossible for Saudi Arabia and others to normalize relations with the Jewish state.

Above all, no one-state solution can simultaneously preserve Israel’s security, democracy and Jewishness. Ruling over millions of Palestinians indefinitely would be both a moral stain and a recipe for continued violence. Seeking to expel them from Gaza and the West Bank through force or persuasion would doom Israel’s hopes of living in peace with its neighbors.

Political attitudes aren’t set in stone. Israelis were similarly skeptical about peace talks before then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin embarked on the negotiations that led to the Oslo Accords in the 1990s. Today, support for a two-state solution rises perceptibly if the prospect is framed as part of a deal for regional normalization. Principled leadership, alongside U.S. encouragement, could open pathways that seem closed.

As a start, the U.S. should encourage any new government to begin stabilizing relations with the Palestinians. Security forces should rein in violent settlers and dismantle outposts that are illegal under Israeli law. Settlement projects that threaten the viability of a future Palestinian state should be halted. Israel should begin releasing revenues collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. In Gaza, the White House should insist that the road map for implementing the U.S.-sponsored peace plan proceed stage by stage: If Hamas balks at disarming, Gazans and the world will see the real roadblock to peace and reconstruction.

Meanwhile, European and Arab allies should be applying their own pressure to Palestinian leaders, who have cynically postponed their own elections yet again. They should set out clear conditions for the Palestinian Authority to reform and swiftly call out backsliding. Rather than continuing to encourage unrealistic expectations, they should make clear that peace will require painful concessions from Palestinians. And they should offer Israelis incentives to push forward, perhaps by offering new commercial ties ahead of full normalization.

A strong and secure Israel remains in U.S. interests. Both countries need to remember that there are no shortcuts to getting there.

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