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Disappointed U.S. Scales Back Its Middle East Diplomacy

(Jerusalem Post) Herb Keinon - The current sense in Jerusalem is that the U.S. is scaling back its intensive involvement in the diplomatic process. Middle East envoy George Mitchell has not been to the region in over a month and is not expected back until January. The feeling in Jerusalem is that Washington believed that Netanyahu's moratorium would move the process along a bit, and when the Palestinians failed to respond positively to the move, the U.S. decided to sit back and see how things would play out. One source said the U.S. would not stop its work in the area, but "just bring it down a couple of notches." He said there was also a sense that Washington was waiting to see the outcome of a number of issues - including whether Mahmoud Abbas would indeed step down, and what would happen if there were a deal for kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.
2009-12-11 08:09:14
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