(Wall Street Journal) Editorial - The prospects for success are bleak for the Obama Administration's latest efforts to revive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, but everyone still wants to give it that old State Department try. Yet Israel is less secure now with the rise of Iran as a menacing regional power. Tehran has supplied its proxy, Hizbullah, with 45,000 rockets aimed at Israel from across the border in Lebanon - despite Condoleezza Rice's assurances that the UN would stop the rocket supply after the 2006 Lebanon-Israel war. Iran also arms Hamas, which now controls Gaza and is sworn to Israel's destruction. These realities understandably make Israel determined to keep a military presence on the West Bank border with Jordan as part of any new Palestinian statehood - to prevent the West Bank from becoming another Lebanon or Gaza. The U.S. might make more progress with both Israel and Mr. Abbas if it stopped Iran's march toward becoming a nuclear power.
2010-08-24 07:19:36Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive