[TIME] Massimo Calabresi - The Administration is hoping to announce the resumption of final-status negotiations over a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians later this month. "If Israel says, 'We'll put a moratorium on settlement activity, except for some exceptions,' it's something the Obama Administration achieves that their predecessors haven't," says Robert Malley of the International Crisis Group. Furthermore, the Administration's efforts on the Israeli-Palestinian front may be shaped by U.S. priorities elsewhere in the Middle East - namely, getting Iran to scale back its nuclear ambitions. Washington's prospects for securing Arab cooperation on Iran are improved if Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are underway. But the threat of withholding Arab cooperation on Iran in the absence of a settlement freeze is not entirely credible, because Arab regimes have as much to fear from a nuclear armed Iran as does the U.S. So Obama is likely to call the Arab-Palestinian bluff with the best deal he can get from Israel. More than six months after starting work on reviving the peace process, the White House needs to get past talking about talks and get to the business of negotiation.
2009-09-10 08:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive