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How Obama Sabotaged Middle East Peace Talks

(Washington Post) Jackson Diehl - For 15 years and more, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas conducted peace talks with Israel in the absence of a freeze on Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Now, it appears that his newborn negotiations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - and their goal of agreement on a Palestinian state within a year - will die because of Abbas' refusal to continue without such a freeze. The settlement impasse originated not with Netanyahu or Abbas, but with Obama - who by insisting on an Israeli freeze has created a near-insuperable obstacle to the peace process he is trying to promote. In July, following a meeting at the White House, it looked like the U.S. and Israeli leaders had overcome their differences. Yet to the surprise of both Netanyahu and some in his own administration, Obama reintroduced the settlement issue in his September address to the UN General Assembly. In doing so, he made it impossible for Abbas not to make the same demand.
2010-10-19 11:30:48
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