Peace Talks

With a resolution of the stand-off between Israelis and Palestinians in Ramallah and Bethlehem in sight at mid-week, efforts by the United States and Saudi Arabia to address the underlying conflict are expected to begin next week when Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon meets with President George W. Bush at the White House.

With Secretary of State Colin Powell's Mideast mission widely seen as a failure, the focus of international diplomacy now shifts to a possible regional conference using the Saudi peace initiative as a basis for talks.

With Secretary of State Colin Powell's Mideast mission widely seen as a failure, the focus of international diplomacy now shifts to a possible regional conference using the Saudi peace initiative as a basis for talks.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas tried to put the best spin this week on Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, but observers expect little if anything will be accomplished by the end of the year.

Where To Turn Next in Stalled Middle East Talks?

Defense Treaty Hinges On Peace Talks

The start of final-status talks between Israel and the Palestinians — now scheduled for Sunday in Ramallah — could ignite fierce battles in the American Jewish community as negotiators wrestle with issues deemed too explosive to take up in earlier rounds.
Several American Jewish leaders say their groups are working to lay the communal groundwork for talks that could fundamentally alter the geography of the Jewish state and pierce many pro-Israel articles of faith.

Palestinian State Of Mind

by James D. Besser
Washington Correspondent
Air Force One hadn’t even touched town at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, but Jewish activists on Tuesday already were fighting over the symbolism of President Bill Clinton’s groundbreaking and controversial trip to Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.
Jewish leaders representing all points on the ideological spectrum did agree on one thing: the symbol-laden trip could be a turning point in U.S.-Israel and U.S.-Palestinian relations.

Washington — From cheerleader of Oslo to indispensable mediator to arbiter and chief referee. That’s the road of good intentions the U.S. administration has traveled as Israeli-Palestinian relations deteriorated over the last two years.
But with the CIA primed to wade neck deep into actually arbitrating the Palestinians terror-fighting performance, as outlined in last week’s breakthrough Wye agreement, American Jewish leaders are edgy.

U.S. efforts to revive Israeli-Palestinian talks entered the “end game” this week, but it remained to be seen whether this round would be any more conclusive than several other recent diplomatic end games. On Monday, the State Department indicated that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators would resume direct talks, possibly as early as this week, but not at the highest levels.