Throughout the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and especially during the Israeli-Palestinian "peace process," both Israel and the Arab side have been engaged in a carefully designed "peace war," the object of which is to make peace impossible while creating the appearance that their side wants peace, while the other side is an obstacle to peace (see What makes Israeli-Palestinian peace initiatives fail?). The Americans and Europeans, lured by the tantalizing prospect of peace in the Middle East, have allowed themselves to fall into successive traps that complicate the issue, and allow the sides to use the mediators to extract money as well as support for their claims, in order to bolster their own positions and continue the conflict. The fate of the Obama peace initiative is no exception. [more]

by Moderator @ 09:35 PM CST [Link]