Word: palestinians
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...more than two years, calls for peace by Syria's President Bashar Assad had been ignored by the Bush Administration because of Syria's support for militants in Lebanon, the Palestinian territories and - the U.S. alleged - Iraq. Hoping that isolation would change Syrian behavior, Washington encouraged Israel to ignore the Syrian charm offensive. But since the Obama Administration took office with the intention of repairing America's frayed relations in the region, the much discussed - but rarely traveled - road to Damascus has suddenly been busy with American emissaries, including Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, who visited Syria last...
...important issue and makes it a priority. I don't mean that you simply send the Secretary of State and a special envoy. I mean being prepared to pay a price in diplomacy and politics in bringing to bear all the instruments of American diplomacy on foreign partners, Palestinian and Arab, Europeans and Israelis, and at home in the Congress. So far, President Obama has said clearly that mediating Middle East peace is important to him and to Secretary of State Clinton. The Bush Administration certainly never fully accepted that this conflict should be a central American priority...
...Ultimately, as President George W. Bush said, "We can't want peace more than the parties themselves." Not having a credible peace process on the Israeli-Palestinian front would spell trouble for American foreign policy choices. Keep in mind that the United States is facing other priorities in the broader region, including two wars and the Iranian nuclear challenge. Issues are linked. Arab-Israeli peace is an American interest, not just charity work...
...Then what's holding up an agreement in which Israel would return the West Bank in exchange for peace with the Palestinians? The devil is in the details. While they have in principle come to agree that West Bank and Gaza will be a Palestinian state, there are other things that are important like actual boundaries, the future of Jewish settlements, the return of Palestinian refugees and the status of Jerusalem...
...parties reach a settlement without U.S. involvement? The Norwegians negotiated the Oslo accords. I don't think they can clinch a final settlement without America. Palestinian and Israeli politics will remain somewhat fractured. It is difficult to envision that they can make the tough concessions both are going to have to make...