Wooing the gods of the peace process
If the peace process gods have a sense of humor (and history), sometime around next summer — the 11th anniversary of Bill Clinton’s failed Camp David summit — another Democratic president’s peace initiative will be tested. Right now, the arc of President Barack Obama’s peace process efforts (and the other Clinton’s, too) is leading inexorably ...
If the peace process gods have a sense of humor (and history), sometime around next summer -- the 11th anniversary of Bill Clinton's failed Camp David summit -- another Democratic president's peace initiative will be tested.
If the peace process gods have a sense of humor (and history), sometime around next summer — the 11th anniversary of Bill Clinton’s failed Camp David summit — another Democratic president’s peace initiative will be tested.
Right now, the arc of President Barack Obama’s peace process efforts (and the other Clinton’s, too) is leading inexorably to American "bridging" proposals — ideas on the core issues meant to literally bridge the gaps between Israeli and Palestinian positions — if not a U.S. plan to reach a framework accord on all the big issues, which would constitute an extraordinary breakthrough. Currently, neither Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are able to bridge the gaps on Jerusalem, borders, security, and the fate of Palestinian refugees. But with the Obama administration’s inability to resist engaging, the president might end up in another make or break summit.
Aaron David Miller is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former U.S. State Department Middle East analyst and negotiator in Republican and Democratic administrations. He is the author of The End of Greatness: Why America Can’t Have (and Doesn’t Want) Another Great President. Twitter: @aarondmiller2
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