Inching Toward Negotiations

For John, BLUF:  Nikki Haley for President in 2024.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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U.S. says ready to talk Mideast peace; Abbas calls for conference

From Reuters and Reporter Michelle Nichols, 20 February 2018.

Here is the lede plus two:

The United States declared at the United Nations on Tuesday it was “ready to talk” with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who rejected U.S.-led Middle East peace efforts as “impossible” after Washington’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

During a rare U.N. Security Council address, Abbas instead called for an international conference to be held by mid-2018 to kick-start the stalled peace process with Israel and create a “multilateral mechanism” to oversee it.  He left the chamber before U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley spoke.

Palestinians view the Trump administration’s intentions on Middle East peace with deep skepticism after Trump reversed decades of U.S. policy and recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and initiated the move of the U.S. embassy there from Tel Aviv.

Funny about policy.  The US Congress said it was US Policy that Jerusalem was the Capital of Israel.  It was a number of Presidents, probably advised by the striped pants crowd at Foggy Bottom, who provided waivers to acting on US Policy.  I think Ms Nichols didn't quite capture the kernel of the thing.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff
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