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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/21/world/middleeast/21assess.html
In Mideast Talks, Scant Hopes from the Beginning
(New York Times) Ethan Bronner - The American invitation on Friday to the Israelis and Palestinians to start direct peace talks was immediately accepted by both governments. But just below the surface there was an almost audible shrug. There is little confidence - close to none - on either side that the Obama administration's goal of reaching a comprehensive deal in one year can be met. Yossi Beilin, who left politics in 2008 after years as a leftist member of Parliament and government minister, said Friday that the Obama administration was wrong to set a one-year goal. "I think this is a huge mistake by the U.S. administration," he said. "There is not a chance in the world that in a year - two or three - peace can be achieved. The gap between the sides is too big." On the Palestinian side, not even the leadership is enthusiastic. Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has spent the past year and a half resisting the entreaties of Mr. Netanyahu to sit down together without preconditions. He was hoping that the Obama administration would impose a solution. As most Israelis see it, twice in the past decade their governments made generous offers to the Palestinian leadership that were rejected or ignored, evidence that peaceful coexistence was not the other side's goal. What happened in Gaza over the past five years has also created intense Israeli disillusionment. Israel withdrew its settlers and soldiers and the result was a victory for Hamas, which rejects Israel's existence, and thousands of rockets shot at Israeli communities from Gaza. Dore Gold, a former diplomat who has left public service but is closely associated with Mr. Netanyahu, said the negotiations "can be important as long as Israel's red lines are not crossed." The lines he considers red are the need to keep Jerusalem united and under Israeli sovereignty and preserving Israeli control of the area in the West Bank along the Jordan border to prevent any flow of weapons in.