Yes You Can, Mr. President

The views shared on The Mideast Peace Pulse are those of the author(s) and not those of Israel Policy Forum.

Israel Policy Forum Announces its Next Chapter with Middle East Progress

Dear Friends and Supporters of Israel Policy Forum:

On behalf of Israel Policy Forum (IPF), including our President Peter Joseph and Chair Larry Zicklin, I am pleased to inform you that IPF is embarking on its next chapter. 

2010 Must Be Showtime for Mideast Peace

Assistant Director, IPF - NY

As 2009 draws to a close, we are bombarded by the annual litany of commentary features recapping the year in Hollywood movies to the year in international conflict, and everything in between.

When it comes to the Middle East peace process, current conventional wisdom suggests the 2009 recap might go something like this: 

US-Iran Negotiations: Simulation Exercise at INSS

Ephraim Asculai, Emily B. Landau, and Tamar Malz-Ginzburg

INSS Insight No. 154, December 29, 2009

Despite the tendency to denote any simulation exercise on security issues a "war game," the recent simulation designed and held at INSS did not focus on the option of a military attack. Rather, it developed the scenario of a bilateral US-Iranian negotiation over Iran's nuclear program.

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To Freeze or not to Freeze

President Obama’s moves on Israeli settlements seem a bit puzzling. For much of the year, the United States was pressing for a freeze. Then it seemed to let up a bit. At the United Nations on September 23, 2009, Obama called on the Palestinians “to end incitement against Israel.” But he did not call on Israel to freeze or end settlement expansion. Rather, he stated “we continue to emphasize that America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements.”  Even Bibi commended Obama’s UN speech. Secretary Clinton’s statement in Israel on October 31 added to the softer sentiment: “What the Prime Minister has offered in specifics of a restraint on the policy of settlements which he has just described - no new starts for example, is unprecedented in the context of prior to negotiations.”

Many were ready to pronounce the U.S. effort over (and a failure).

Then, this week, the tension returned with cold atmospherics around a meeting with Netanyahu. Why the back and forth in U.S. freeze moves? (Is this meant as some kind of good cop, bad cop routine?) Did President Abbas’s resignation threat really shake things up or catch U.S. officials off guard? Were Obama officials unaware that letting Netanyahu off the hook on a complete freeze might spark Palestinian discontent? One hopes for a better chess game on the part of U.S. officials.

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