U.S. leaning toward indirect Mideast peace talks

"US national security is now linked to Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement." Stephan I wondered for many many years when retaliation would come to U.S. shores. I wasn't suprised by 9/11. Actually I felt relief. I knew people were dying but I couldn't see them, much like our foreign wars. 9/11 brought our attention to the failings of our ME policies. The Arab has been abused for over a century. Even the undeservedly revered Churchill once commented that the Iraqi people should be gassed when the British were the occupiers. President Obama knows that there must be a Palestinian/Israeli peace. If not, cut Israel loose before attacks on U.S. soil make the Trade Center a walk in the park. Salaam/Shalom

Dear Mark Lincoln, The peace scare is not over and will not be for another 1100 days , which is left in Obama's term. There is the full court press with our dipolmats going and pushing peace. Mark, you're smart I've read your postings. I believe there's a 24 month window to close some treaty deals. If not there will be a Peace Scare of 2010 also. I believe, US national security is now linked to Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. The US must push; it would be better if Israel is pushing with us and not against us!

The story of history is a continuity of advancement, retreat, victory & loss, Gambling high stakes,winning and losing, hiding and be found, living and dying and living and dying. The mid-east is no exception nor is Israel vs the Arabs ( the pals are only one of the many Arab spearheads facing, attacking winning and losing but not letting go. Its the not letting go that's the crux of the matter. Obama obviously wants to have cordial, friendly and mutually beneficial relations with the Arbas, and is willing to squeeze concessions out of Israel on behalf of that policy. however, since Obama is necessarily over loaded with even higher priority problems, foreign and domestic, Israel needs to take this opportunity to gain more bargaining chip in order to surrender as necessary some in the future. Thats what planing is all about. What would those bargaining chips be? say more settlements on the WB, an even tighter blockade of Gaza, tighter controls over the WB, Expulsion of the Wafq.

Obama and his pathetic efforts for peace have totally destabilized the PA.

You'r absolutely right about Clinton waisting time,because there is no peace with Muslims anywhere.83% of all conflicts on earth right now involves Muslims,just look around you,from China to the Philippines,and from Gaza to Denmark.Peace for the Muslims is a curse.How many Muslims have died today at the hands of Muslims?yesterday it was over 300,how many today?tomorrow?.your peace loving friends had no peace for a millennium.

... are liable to get sick-and-tired of us playing around with them, when it is obvious that with the present coalition things can only spiral downwards... ... the change has to be WITHIN Israel before we can lift ourselves out of this fatal stalemate...

Holding indirect talks will go nowhere. Every successful peace agreement has been done through direct talks. Begin and Sadat talked directly to each other. Rabin and King Hussein talked directly to each other. Those are the only two peace deals that have succeeded. All indirect talks, such as the mediation of Turkey between Israel and Syria, have failed. Indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians will prolong the conflict.

by Israel! Israel continues the practice of Palestinian home demolition...Israeli extremists are acting against the Al-Aqsa Mosque under the protection of Israeli soldiers... Israeli soldiers are ushering in (thug) settlers to carry out rallies in Palestinian villages... Israeli forces raid a tent, set up on the footpath in front of the home of a Palestinian family who were evicted in August... a US State Department review on worldwide religious freedom which was released on Monday states, Israel continues to discriminate against its religious minorities legally, financially and culturally. (Ma'an News October 2009)

You can't deny/ignore your allies,specialy when they buy your bread and butter too. Israel will be very thankless to ignore Mitchel and Clinton as you are suggesting. Don't we all know, Israel is what it is due to strong support of US. They are the masters of Israel's economy and defense.

I wonder why you always have to use name calling in your post,but i guess it is guilt. Non of the western democracies are talking to Hamas included your country.They are listed as terror organization.Not even Fatah talk to them. You talk about war machine while your war machine is destroying sovereign countries after you've invaded them for the same reason that Israel went into Gaza.It is absurd to hear you talk of democracy,because you support any anti democratic people like Hamas Syria Iran. By a mirror,and use it,and you'll not like what you'll see.

It seem that no one in the ME can talk directly to each other.We need a third party for negotiating the release of Shalit.The Palestinians need a third party for negotiating between Fatah and Hamas.And they need a third party for peace proces. Reminds me of my kindergarten!

And how do you envision the imposing ? If one or the other side refuses to be imposed on, what happens ? The US can have its $ 3 bln. per year repatriated, so what other imposition tools do you suggest ?

Irreconcilable differences cannot be bridged by indirect talks. Start with proposing something that is realistic, not wishful thinking - and be amazed at the results !

She waved when she came and she waved during her stay and she waved when she left with nothing. Now Clinton will arrive in Israel and her aim is to make sure that her visit will not upset any Jewish congressmen and woman, so that the Health Plan will have their backers at home. Yes we know that; "The US is Israels friend", yes we know that "Peace is in Israels best interest", yes we know about "the unshakable bonds between our nations", but we don't know what Obama's message to Benyamin is. What ever it is, Clinton is there to bring it to Netanyahu in person. She is only the messenger.

Indirect talks will go nowhere. The Americans need to decide between two opposite approaches. One, do nothing. Leave the parties stewing in their own misery and cut them off politically, economically, etc. Two, take full charge and impose a settlement. This can be done, but only if the Americans have the will and the courage. So far, I've seen no sign of this.

'Israeli concessions only bring demands for more Israeli concessions' What concessions are you talking about Micheal?

Indeed, for all their shortcomings, Abbas and Bibi have been brought to center stage and seem to have forgotten their lines. Each could be sensationally transformed from schlumper to historical greatness, if only they would agree to face each other and begin to talk in earnestness. Their delay, and fumbling, posing, and grandstanding will only make the task more difficult for them or their successors. History beckons them both, to lower their pride and begin negotiations. If not now, when and who?

Obama and Clinton may want that "efforts should center on bolstering Abbas' position" but it?s a fools game. Israeli concessions only bring demands for more Israeli concessions. Arab public opinion needs a paradigm change. The focus needs to be on reversing all of the Islamist incitement against Jews. The ?Arab street? needs learn that they have been misinformed to concerning all the incitement against Jews and The Jewish State. Of course the same applies for the leftists anti-Semites who spew and repeat anti-Israeli libel.

Settlers need more than maybe and Palestinians need an intrastructure starting with water pipes and sewage plants then electrical. With Palestinian being able to only build in afew areas, they have become overcrowded and boxed in by Jewish settlements. The class C areas are going to be another problem but is alarge part of W. Bank.

The rapid plunge in support for Abbas and Fatah in both Gaza and the West bank is frightening. I understand why the total victory of Netanyahu over Obama and his pathetic efforts for peace have totally destabilized the PA. And I understand just how delighted the Israeli right is that the Great Peace Scare of 2009 has ended. There is, of course, the question the psychotic right never asks, 'what next?' But the psycho-right never has to ask that question. Because they know that whenever peace is vanquished the right wins. If the inevitable happens and totally innocent Israeli's - not just Likudniks, Yisrael Beiteinu, and those last fools who stay with Barak's Anti-Labor party - will be harmed, maimed, and killed, it will only help those men and Israeli parties who have done all they could to ensure the nation will remain in perpetual war. Thus, when a new wave of terror descends upon Israeli's the right will win what it lusts for. A reason to exist that it must perpetuate.

I have to laugh. Diplomats have been trying to solve the middle east problem diplomatically for 60 years and it cannot be done. Did you ever hear that to keep doing something the same way and expecting different results is insane? The fact is the middle east problem is a legal problem. The United Nations took property from Palestinian Arabs in order to create a safe haven for persecuted Jews and they never paid just compensation to the Palestinian Arabs for their losses. It`s no wonder that they harbor resentment. You know what you get when you take someone`s property for no money? 60 years of war. I don`t want to hear that Arabs left voluntarily. I leave my property voluntarily all the time. In doing so my property rights are not relinquished. The UN needs to set up a Middle East Compensation Commission where people, Jews too, who lost property due to Israel`s creation can come, present claims and get justly compensated in exchange for a release of claims.

You can either have peace (talking to the elected officials of Palestine) or you can continue to fund the Zionist war machine that DOES not care about Democracy or Civil rights of their people. Yes the "Arabs" or Arabic speaking population are native to the region too.

Talks between an unstable PA and a Netanyahu/Liebermen govt are worthless 1. Dissolve the PA 2. Force Israel to take responsibility as the occupying power. 3. That will force them to withdraw from the West Bank. Or else they will be outnumbered

I think Obama has been deflected by other urgent business and so has lost a bit of traction in the mid-east--and momentum too--that he truly gained with his historic Cairo speech that put matters in fine perspective. Israel, at that time, got a well deserved wrap to its knuckles, but with Obama deflected, has continued its business as usual-or maybe business with a little more vigor. Sure, no one is looking; let's take a little more. Perhaps Obama can get things back on the track; time will tell if he can. Certainly it is worth a shot.

Now the onus is on Netanyahu to present a solution. Pulling out his repertoire about Palestinian job creation and Iran bombing is a waste of breath. So the train comes to a grinding halt and anytime Tehran decides the timing is right, Israel becomes history. US has effectively shaken its hands off the Israel's future.

One can just hear Hillary: "Oh, Bibi, I love it when you humiliate me! You are even better at it than Bill."

The US negotiators don't understand the situation. All they know is what they learned in college and what their intelligence briefings tell them. No progress has been made because all the US personnel can do is try to make a decision based on rational decisions and cannot fully understand the forces at play here, what Israel's role is in Israel proper, the territories, the region, and the world. Peace will not come because the US will goad each sides towards an uneasy quiet; peace will come when the Palestinians can shake off a terrorist government that refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist.

I hope she will do something and not say what her husband Bill Clinton said when he was the president of the United States visiting Israel "I FEEL I AM AT HOME". These words protect Israel from listening to the US.

We can't have Mitchell showing up every two weeks disrupting the PM and pressuring him. It is just a bullying tactic. Let Bibi assign Lieberman to meet Mitchell and Clinton, they''ll stop coming around so much after spending a little time with Avigdor. If Obama can take time to decide on Afganistan, how much more can we take time to decide on our own fate.