This is an issue where people of goodwill on both sides of the debate have been sorting through some very complicated questionsto find a solution that works for everyone.
This, his aides say, means he cannot answer for the moment such niggling questions as whether he accepts the very concept of a two-state solutionto the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
On 4 July 2012, as Mr Paterson and his team took MPs' questions, he was urged by North Down MP Lady Hermon "to find a long-term solutionto this agonising problem for many, many people, which has heaped misery upon misery upon misery".