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A [misnomer] "peace" process going nowhere

There has been so much talk about Middle East peace talks - all said to be part of some process! - but in reality it's all a myth. Good for news headlines and great for the Israelis who continue growing settlements and pushing back any settlement whilst, in effect, nothing is happening to resolve the ongoing conflict.

Obama may have got his Nobel Peace prize - although hard to see for what - but next week he will hear from his Secretary of State and Special Envoy to the Middle East that any peace process [a misnomer in any event] is actually regressing - as The Washington Post reports:

"A political crisis for the Palestinian Authority and growing doubts about American mediation have deeply undercut chances that Israeli-Palestinian peace talks will resume in the near future, according to officials and analysts on both sides.

After nine months of shuttle diplomacy by U.S. special envoy George J. Mitchell, the gap between Israeli and Palestinian leaders appears to have grown, and it now includes not only a dispute over Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank, but also renewed tension over Jerusalem, disagreement over the framework for the talks and controversy over a U.N. report on alleged war crimes during Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip last winter.

When Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Mitchell report to the White House next week on the administration's goal of restarting the peace talks, they will be describing a situation that has arguably regressed, particularly in the three weeks since a high-level session in New York involving President Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas."

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