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Lowered Expectations for Middle East Peace

The Jerusalem Post says Obama is scaling back his diplomacy:

With the Palestinians refusing to return to the negotiations, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu not calling for a complete settlement freeze and the Arab world declining to make any gestures to Israel, the current sense in Jerusalem is that the US is scaling back its intensive involvement in the diplomatic process.

The best example of this is that US Middle East envoy George Mitchell has not been to the region in over a month and is not now expected to come back until January, after the holiday season in the US.

The feeling in Jerusalem is that Washington believed that Netanyahu's moratorium would move the process along a bit, and when the Palestinians failed to respond positively to the move, the US decided to sit back and see how things would play out.

Obama took office claiming a once-in-a-generation opportunity for a comprehensive peace had arrived. Sadly, it seems that it may have passed.