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[Al-Ahram, Egypt]

 

 

Le Figaro, France

America's Shift on Israeli Settlements Due to Iran

 

"While letting up on pressure it was exerting over settlements, perhaps Washington is hoping for more understanding from Israel. But it does so at the cost of a lasting deadlock in the Middle East."

 

By Pierre Rousselin

                                

 

Translated By Pascaline Jay

 

November 3, 2009

 

France - Le Figaro - Original Article (French)

Holding the plans for Auschwitz, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu scolds U.N. members who tolerate the Holocaust denial of Iranian President Ahmadinejad, Sept. 24., 00:29:29.

 

UNITED NATIONS TV: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu addresses the opening of the 64th U.N. General Assembly in New York, Sept. 24., 00:29:29RealVideo

Yesterday, before an assembly of Arab diplomats, Hillary Clinton called on Israel to show “positive gestures” toward the Palestinians. In Jerusalem the day before, the secretary of state, flanked by a beaming Benyamin Netanyahu, confirmed what Barack Obama had suggested in September: the White House will no longer require Israel to stop all settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

 

In this two-step, there is a notable readjustment of the new administration’s diplomacy, which had ventured a bit of a frontal assault with its ally Israel.

 

George W. Bush learned at his expense that the Middle East doesn’t lend itself to simplistic approaches. His successor is in the process of learning precisely the opposite. At the end of the road, the United States and its partners will perhaps realize that American policy in the region is subject to forces that transcend the ideology now in vogue at the White House.

 

In Morocco, Hillary Clinton had to confront the disappointment of the Arab states. Demanding that Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas resume peace talks with Israel “unconditionally” - after having dangled a complete freeze in settlements, was indeed hard to swallow. Constrained to reverse itself on commitments it was impossible to keep, American diplomacy revealed itself to be particularly maladroit. 

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

 

Even if the secretary of state keeps repeating that the partial freeze which the Israeli Prime Minister has agreed to is “without precedent,” the Arab countries see the glass as half empty - even if the same glass could at first have been presented as half full.

 

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Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the opening of the 64th session of the U.N. General Assembly, Sept. 25

 

UNITED NATIONS TV: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the opening of the 64th session of the U.N. General Assembly, Sept. 25, 00:14:55RealVideo

This U.S. shift in regard to the Arab-Israeli conflict is due, first, to the lack of prospects for progress; but also to the confusion that has seized the Iran nuclear issue.

 

The time will come when a decision will have to be made: either to do nothing and accept, de facto, the accession of Iran to nuclear status; or to engage in an escalation. Iran's delaying tactics can only exacerbate the Israeli impatience.

 

While letting up on pressure it was exerting over settlements, perhaps Washington is hoping for more understanding from Israel. But it does so at the cost of a lasting deadlock in the Middle East.

 

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[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US November 11, 4:39pm]

 







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