Monday June 9, 2008

I've Been Thinking:

The United States is proposing trilateral talks between Israel the Palestinians.
Proposing is a nice way of saying that trilateral talks are a forgone conclusion.

Israel and the Palestinians will talk and the United States will moderate.
Actually, Condi Rice will be the moderator. The first set will take place at the beginning of next week. Rice departs for the Region on Saturday night.

Why trilateral talks?
Because:
The United States does not trust that bilateral talks will work.
The United States wants to turn up the pressure in order to reach an agreement.
Both Israel and the Palestinians will be forced into positions that they would not have agreed on in bilateral talks.
The United States has a good idea of what the final agreement should look like and will work to make sure that it does look that way.

One thing is certain:
Both Israelis and Palestinians will be unhappy with the talks and with the results.

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