MESOP TODAYS OPINION : THE UNITED STATES JUST MADE MIDDLE EAST PEACE HARDER
By Elliott Abrams and Michael Singh – Elliott Abrams is a senior fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former deputy national security advisor in the George W. Bush administration. Michael Singh, the Lane-Swig Senior Fellow and managing director at The Washington Institute, served as senior director for Middle East Affairs at the National Security Council from 2007 to 2008.
Washington Post – December 23, 2016 – Sizing up the Israeli-Palestinian conflict upon assuming office, President Obama decided Israeli settlements were the problem, and he insisted on a total freeze on construction. What followed were eight years of deadlock, the deterioration of U.S. relations with Israelis and Palestinians alike, and widespread disillusionment with the two-state solution.
Despite this track record, Obama is leaving off where he began: in a departure from Washington’s typical role as Israel’s defender at the United Nations, the United States refused to use its veto and allowed the adoption of a Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements…
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