Analysts Pessimistic on Chances of Mideast Talks Success
Jerome Socolovsky | Washington 03 September 2010
U.S. sponsored peace talks between the Israeli and Palestinian leaderships are under way again after a two-year hiatus. On Thursday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the U.S. administration wants an agreement within a year. Many Mideast analysts are skeptical, though, about the chances of success.
After their direct talks in Washington on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas agreed to hold another round of meetings later this month. Their long-term aim is to produce a framework for a permanent peace deal.
The prospects for peace as a result of this new U.S. initiative were intensely debated at a meeting in Washington of the American Political Science Association.
Anne Marie Slaughter, the director of Policy Planning for the U.S. State Department, said "I think we've got a good shot."
Slaughter is the former dean of Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. She says there are good reasons why President Barack Obama's effort might succeed where previous administrations have failed.
"This president made his commitment clear from day one. He didn't wait until the last year of his administration. He knew it would take patience and time. It has. But this is an important step forward after 18 months, recognizing that the groundwork has to be prepared, we have to be patient, but we also have to believe that an agreement is possible," she said.
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