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Obama Weighs New Peace Plan for the Middle East

(Washington Post) David Ignatius - President Obama is "seriously considering" proposing an American peace plan to resolve the Palestinian conflict, according to two top administration officials. The American peace plan would be linked with the issue of confronting Iran, explained a senior official. "We want to get the debate away from settlements and East Jerusalem and take it to a 30,000-feet level that can involve Jordan, Syria and other countries in the region," as well as the Israelis and Palestinians. "Incrementalism hasn't worked," he continued, explaining that the U.S. cannot allow the Palestinian problem to keep festering - providing fodder for Iran and other extremists. Obama's attention was focused by a March 24 meeting at the White House with six former national security advisers. Brent Scowcroft, who served as national security adviser for presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, urged Obama to launch a peace initiative based on past areas of agreement; he was followed by Zbigniew Brzezinski, the national security adviser for Jimmy Carter, who described some of the strategic parameters of such a plan. Support for a new approach was also said to have been expressed by Sandy Berger and Colin Powell, who served as national security advisers for presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan, respectively. A political battle royal is likely to begin soon, with Israeli officials and their supporters in the U.S. protesting what they fear would be an American attempt to impose a settlement and arguing to focus instead on Iran. The White House rejoinder, expressed by a senior official, is: "It's not either Iran or the Middle East peace process. You have to do both."
2010-04-07 08:22:54
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