(Wall Street Journal) Jay Solomon, Nicholas Casey and Joshua Mitnick - The Obama administration's campaign to forge a Middle East peace agreement appeared near collapse Tuesday. Republicans and Democrats criticized the administration's last-minute discussions to offer up the spy, Jonathan Pollard, to persuade the Israelis to make more concessions. "It's hard for me to see how releasing Jonathan Pollard would help jump-start Middle East peace talks," Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said. Despite eight months of negotiations spearheaded by Secretary of State John Kerry, diplomacy appeared to be unraveling after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he had signed papers formally applying to join 15 international organizations affiliated with the UN. Abbas also said he would support a form of "nonviolent resistance" against Israel. Kerry, who was set to visit Abbas in Ramallah on Wednesday, canceled his trip, the State Department said. Israeli officials warned that the moves could derail the negotiations completely. "This is a serious escalation," said a senior Israeli official.
2014-04-02 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive