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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/25/world/middleeast/25mideast.html
U.S. Picks an Inauspicious Time to Restart Mideast Talks
[New York Times] Steven Erlanger - It would be hard to imagine a less promising moment for the U.S. to restart serious Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations. Six years after the last such talks, the Palestinian government is controlled by Hamas, which preaches Israel's destruction. Yet the Bush administration is holding a meeting on Feb. 2 of the Quartet, to be followed by "informal talks" between Israeli and Palestinian leaders, with help from Secretary of State Rice, about the shape of a final peace treaty and the nature of a Palestinian state beside Israel. The Americans are responding to pleas for re-engagement from the EU, Mahmoud Abbas, and moderate Arab nations. But expectations are purposely low. With the Israelis battered by the war in Lebanon, rockets coming from Gaza, and a Palestinian power struggle, few Israelis would support large new withdrawals from the West Bank when Abbas cannot control Palestinian militants and the PA is run by Hamas.