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Obama Goes Aggressive On Middle East
Shoval replied that the real question was if Mahmoud Abbas was strong enough to make peace with Israel or whether it was first necessary to create a Palestinian economic infrastructure and governance that could sustain a peace accord with Israel. Only after this trial period, would it be possible to consider the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. This is the approach proposed by Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu (Source: IsraCast).
"I believe President Obama is sending Sen. Mitchell on a fact-finding mission to meet with regional leaders and study the situation before the new American leader decides on how to proceed". That's the assessment of Zalman Shoval, a former Israeli ambassador to Washington. With an Israeli elections set for February 10, the Obama administration would then bide its time before a new Israeli government takes office. But if the Arab world now has very high expectations for the Obama administration when it comes to other Middle East issues such as Iraq and the Iranian nuclear threat, might this lead to US pressure on Israel to accept Palestinian demands.
