Israel-Palestinian Talks Going Nowhere, Slowly
Jason Ditz: Israel-Palestinian Talks Going Nowhere, Slowly - “Preliminary” talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) are nominally supposed to give way to specific peace talks and an eventual settlement. The US is talking this goal up, of course, but the indications are neither side really believes it, and is setting up for a timely failure. Instead of being about what the two sides can do to advance a settlement, the focus seems to be on what political advantage the leaders on either side can squeeze out of the lead-up to the talks, and treating the inevitable failure as an afterthought.
Eric Margolis: The Road to Nowhere - Kerry Mideast Journey - Watching this annual charade is both painful and exhausting. It makes cynics of the most idealistic hopers for Mideast peace. Israel holds all the cards, and knows it. Jewish settlements, roads, and security walls are roaring ahead, relentlessly gobbling up the occupied West Bank, Golan and their water resources. West Bank Palestinians are being crammed into future native Bantustans patterned after South Africa’s apartheid-era reservations for blacks.