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Arab Unrest Makes Israeli-Palestinian Peace Harder, Netanyahu Says
(Washington Post) Janine Zacharia - The democratic uprisings that have swept through the Middle East will make it harder for Israel to reach a peace deal with Palestinians, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week in an interview. "Any potential deal with the Palestinians has to account for the tremendous instability in the region," he said. Netanyahu has long insisted on the need for strong security guarantees, such as maintaining an Israeli military presence in the Jordan Valley. From the start of the Egyptian revolution in January, Netanyahu has expressed skepticism that the uprising would transform Egypt into a democracy. He has worried that Egypt's peace treaty with Israel could be jeopardized. Rather than inking a peace deal with Palestinians, "Let's cement the peace that we already have with Egypt and Jordan," a senior Israeli official said. "I don't think there will be an American attempt to go around the negotiators," he said. "They may present their ideas, but they will stress that an agreement must be negotiated between the parties."