Tuesday September 1, 2009

I've Been Thinking:

For a few days now there have been reports that a three way summit between United States, Israeli and Palestinian leaders will take place during the United Nations General Assembly.
The report was confirmed by Israeli President Shimon Peres in a Fox news interview.

There is a serious chasm between the three parties right now.
Mitchell and the Obama administration agreed that continued building in East Jerusalem on existing projects was okay.
Palestinian President Abbas says no way and no talks until all building stops. The entire Arab world is up-in-arms about the Jerusalem exemption.

Obama has his hands full.
Israel went into the Mitchell meeting saying that they agree to a 9 month moratorium on settlement building in the West Bank. But Israel asked to finish 2400 units in East Jerusalem. That sounded reasonable to the Obama administration so they agreed - after all, Israel agreed to stop all other building.

Washington is beginning to understand how nuanced the Middle East is.
It doesn't matter how things are viewed in DC.
What is considered reasonable in DC is very often not at all reasonable in the Middle East.

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