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U.S. Peace Plan Will Set New Baseline for Mideast Diplomacy
(Jerusalem Post) Herb Keinon - The U.S. administration has 20 months in which it can put down new markers on Middle East issues and set new parameters. One of the aims of its peace plan is perhaps less about reaching a final settlement now, and more about setting down a new set of parameters. Much has changed since the Clinton Parameters of 2000. The Second Intifada and the Gaza withdrawal have changed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the "Arab Spring" has fundamentally changed the Middle East. It is expected that the Trump plan will reflect those changes, something that could set the narrative for the next decade. Animating the discussion on Israel inside the administration is the sense that Israel is America's most important ally in the Middle East, and that Washington does not want to weaken it in any way. Likewise, the U.S. does not want to weaken Jordan - another key Mideast ally - and does not want to set up a possible failed state in the West Bank that could threaten the Hashemite Kingdom.