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Obama's Israel Trip Is Not about Middle East Peace
(Foreign Policy) Josh Rogin - U.S. President Barack Obama will visit Israel next month for the first time in his presidency, but few are expecting him to make a substantive push for real progress in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney downplayed the possibility that Obama will bring on his March 20 trip any plans that would be meant to form the framework for a resumption of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. Carney said the trip was timed for after the start of "a new administration and a new government in Israel, and that's an opportune time for a visit like this, that is not focused on specific Middle East peace process proposals....That is not the purpose of this visit." Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said: "It's a good idea to have Israel be the anchor of this first big visit because it does suggest that the president will approach the second term having learned a painful lesson from the first term: how important it is from the outset to have a direct relationship with the public of Israel....In 2009, the objective was to create a new relationship with Muslims. This had the very unfortunate but entirely predictable result of raising doubts about U.S.-Israel relations, which hurts Israeli deterrence and undermines American influence in the region."