Word: jerusalem
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...Jerusalem standoff also carries a domestic political risk for the Obama Administration. A number of Republicans have already lashed out at the President over the issue - former Bush Administration Middle East policy chief Elliott Abrams wrote in the Washington Post that "the Obama Administration continues to drift away from traditional U.S. support for Israel. But time and elections will correct that problem; Israel has a higher approval rating these days than does President Obama." And the influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee, to which all major leaders of both parties traditionally declare their unstinting support for Israel, expressed "serious concern...
Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu had hoped that his apology for the poor timing of plans to expand Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem would have been enough to quell the resulting furor. Instead, the Obama Administration has opted to escalate the standoff into a major battle of political wills between Netanyahu and the White House - one in which neither side can easily back down despite the risks involved in hanging tough...
...Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, after publicly announcing the substance of a 42-min. dressing down of Netanyahu by phone, reportedly sent the Prime Minister a list of steps Washington expected him to take in order to repair relations. Those steps are said to include investigating the Jerusalem settlement announcement; reversing the construction approval; making substantial gestures toward the Palestinians such as releasing a large number of Palestinian prisoners, withdrawing troops from additional areas in the West Bank or easing the siege of Gaza; and publicly declaring Israel's intent to negotiate with the Palestinians on all of the conflict...
...Taking such steps, of course, would threaten Netanyahu's coalition with the right-wing parties that are committed to expanding settlements. For now, at least, Netanyahu is talking tough: "The building in Jerusalem - and in all other places - will continue in the same way as has been customary over the last 42 years," he told a meeting of fellow Likud Party members on Monday. (See pictures of Jerusalem, a divided city...
...Even as Senator Mitchell shuttles between them, both sides appear set to escalate their confrontation on the ground, in growing battles over expanded Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and elsewhere and over the status of various sites considered holy by both Jews and Muslims. Last Friday's confrontations between Israeli police and stone-throwing Palestinian youths in Jerusalem may be a portent that the latest round of peace talks could, in fact, be starting under the cloud of a looming intifadeh...