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Preserving Israel's Uncertain Status Quo
(New York Times) Aaron David Miller - The PA's state-building enterprise and the security cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian services have generated more than a manageable status quo and all but eliminated terrorism. The Arab Spring has left the Hamas leadership with few options and no real desire to wrangle with the Israelis militarily. And the approaching demise of the Assad regime in Syria will weaken Hizbullah. Two major worries for Israel have all but subordinated the Palestinian issue to the back burner: Egypt's future and Iran's centrifuges. On the Iranian nuclear issue, Israel is seeing its worst fears realized. Sanctions hurt but won't retard Iran's enrichment of uranium, and negotiations aren't capable now of producing a deal to stop that process. The fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria will help weaken Iran. But it could also serve to accelerate the Iranian nuclear program out of Tehran's fear of Sunni encirclement.