Word: westly
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...When should talks begin? Conventional wisdom holds that Obama should wait until after the Iranian presidential election in June before making an approach. With any luck, Ahmadinejad will lose - perhaps to his more moderate predecessor, Mohammed Khatami, who has a history of reaching out to the West. Even if Ahmadinejad is re-elected, Khatami's mere entry into the fray may force him to open up, says Ali Ansari, an Iran expert at London's Chatham House, a foreign policy think tank. "The one thing Khatami can deliver is better relations with the U.S. Ahmadinejad will want to cancel that...
...Iranian counterparts made sure to report to Khamenei or his trusted advisers before and after every conversation with U.S. officials. She points out that two former Foreign Ministers - Ali Akbar Velayati and Kamal Kharraji - are among those advisers. Both men have had some experience in dealing with the West...
...talks between Olmert and Abbas over what Washington termed a "shelf" agreement - that is, something that would be concluded and then shelved for a better day, when the Palestinian security situation would have been resolved to Israel's satisfaction. But none of this substantially altered the realities of the West Bank occupation, leaving Abbas with little to show for his counseling negotiation over confrontation. Abbas was further weakened and marginalized when reality forced Israel to negotiate truces and prisoner swaps with Hamas - precisely because it was Hamas creating the security challenges that Israel needed to contain...
...independent Palestinian polling organization found last week that for the first time, Hamas has greater political support than Fatah across the West Bank and Gaza and would win any election that were held right now. Aides to Abbas are reportedly concerned that an Israel-Hamas deal to secure the release of the captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in Gaza could involve releasing the Hamas parliamentarians in Israeli detention. The Palestinian legislature is unable to meet because Israel holds those lawmakers. If it were able to convene, Hamas would remain the majority party...
...those in Fatah are inclined to bet on a third intifadeh. After all, in the short term at least, the status quo works for the Israelis - as long as there are no missiles raining down on Israel from Gaza. But for the Palestinians, the continued occupation in the West Bank is untenable. And it will not have been lost on Fatah activists that Hamas' more confrontational stance has forced the Israelis, however reluctantly, to the negotiating table, as in the case of the Egypt-brokered Gaza-truce negotiations...