The collapse of the talks process, so laboriously constructed, would almost certainly spell a humiliating end to Obama’s peace drive, although indirect diplomacy may stutter on.

Simon Tisdall at guardian.co.uk 10-4-2010

EXCERPTS:

Barack Obama has barely a week to save the Middle East peace process from collapse, only months after he relaunched it amid optimistic predictions that a solution would be reached within a year.

Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, is likewise refusing to budge. He reportedly told US officials that a 60-day extension to the building moratorium that expired last month, as sought by Obama, would damage his political credibility and endanger his coalition.

The dire warnings issued by Jordan’s King Abdullah about new regional conflict seem to have fallen on deaf ears. Washington’s friends in the Gulf, more wary of Iran than of Israel, are meanwhile arming themselves to the teeth, aided by $120bn in US weapons sales.

Netanyahu may be calculating that big Republican gains in next month’s US midterm congressional elections will curtail Obama’s capacity to put pressure on Israel.

FULL STORY

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